The first case of swine flu virus has been registered in Poland. The carrier is a 58-year-old woman from the southern Podkarpacie region who returned from the United States on May 2. She was admitted to a local hospital with flu-like symptoms on Tuesday and is reportedly in stable condition.

Speaking at the press conference following the announcement Health Minister Ewa Kopacz said there is no need to panic. "There is no need to worry. We have known and we talked about the fact that many cases of swine flu have been registered worldwide so sooner or later such a case would also be registered in Poland. The most important thing now is to be ready to handle it. I am hereby declaring: we are prepared and we will fight with this flu effectively". 

At the same time special procedures have been launched by the National Sanitary Inspectorate. All the passengers and the crew of the LOT Polish Airlines flight from New York have already been contacted for further screening.  

So far over 1600 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in 23 countries worldwide, mostly in Mexico. (di)