Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday morning held a meeting to address mounting fears of the global spread of swine flu. Attending the briefing were Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and senior Health Ministry officials.

Contrary to earlier reports, the decision was announced that health officials will remain in charge of monitoring and preparations, and not the defense ministry as was indicated earlier. A decision was made to implement stricter screening and testing of people arriving in Israel, including Mexico and other countries reporting confirmed flu victims.

At present, there are two confirmed cases in Israel but on Thursday, a 40-year-old female resident of Tel Monde, who recently returned from Mexico, has been placed in isolation in Kfar Saba’s Meir Hospital.

The WHO has raised its pandemic level from 4 to 5.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)