New Zealand checks another 56 possible swine flu cases

The New Zealand government said Tuesday (April 28) it was investigating a further possible 56 cases of swine flu among people who recently returned from Mexico or the US. 

It follows a weekend announcement that nine high school students and a teacher who had returned from Mexico had tested positive for influenza A and were likely to have contracted swine flu.

Minister of Health Tony Ryall said Tuesday a further 56 people who had recently returned to New Zealand and had flu-like symptoms were being tested for influenza A, a type of virus to which swine flu belongs.

"These are people who have been in Mexico or the United States in the last two weeks," Ryall told a press conference.

Earlier Tuesday, the ministry said three people from a separate New Zealand school group that visited Mexico had tested negative for influenza A.

Mexico said Monday the number of confirmed and suspected deaths from the flu had risen to 149 there as the number of cases around the globe continued to rise.

The World Health Organization has raised its flu pandemic alert level from three to four, signalling a "significant increase in risk of a pandemic."