Swine flu As swine flu spread throughout the world, countries and citizens moved quickly to protect themselves, donning face masks, cancelling trips, and staying out of crowded areas. Here, in pictures, are some of the global responses to the growing outbreak.
Swine flu global reaction
May 1 2009
A civil protection officer wearing a face mask as a precaution against swine flu contagion gives a leaflet to a tourist about how to avoid the virus at the Caletilla beach in Acapulco, Mexico. The mayor of this resort city is telling tourists from Mexico City to go home
May 1 2009
A pedestrian walks past shuttered businesses in Mexico City. Some shops in the city remained closed due to the beginning of a national holiday and the government advising people to stay home in hopes of containing the swine flu outbreak
April 30 2009
A woman in London reads a public information advertisement on swine flu in a national newspaper. The National Health Service launched a campaign to inform the British public about the threat of swine flu. There have been eight confirmed cases in the UK so far and the NHS’s top medical chief has warned that there will be "many more" in the future
April 30 2009
A woman in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, looks at pork meat on display in a supermarket. A number of countries, including China, Croatia and Ecuador, have placed full or partial bans on imports of pig products
April 30 2009
A worker carries face masks inside a warehouse in Bataan province in the Philippines. The plant, which manufactures face masks and isolation gowns, has trebled its production since the outbreak of swine flu
April 30 2009
Francisco Duque, Philippines health minister, displays boxes of the anti-flu drug Tamiflu at a government warehouse in Manila. The government says it has enough of the drug for 60,000 possible cases and is buying 10m pesos ($206,000) worth of additional stocks, but this will cover only a fraction of country's 90m people
April 30 2009
Chinese health inspectors wearing protective suits and goggles wait to board an AeroMexico aircraft in Shanghai. Countries worldwide have ramped up their border and airport checks and many are advising against non-essential travel to areas where the virus has been found, especially Mexico
April 29 2009
A truck transports pigs through the streets of Mexico City. There have been nine confirmed fatalities from swine flu in Mexico, while more than 150 are suspected to have died from the infection
April 29 2009
A man wearing a mask departs a flight from Mexico City at Gatwick Airport in London. Airlines and travel companies are preparing to repatriate holidaymakers from Mexico after the Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to the country. Both Thomson Holidays and First Choice have cancelled further flights to Cancun as fears of a flu pandemic continue to rise
April 29 2009
Two vendors sell surgical masks at a freeway in Lima. Peru has banned all commercial flights from Mexico
April 29 2009
Passengers wear protective masks during a flight from Guatemala to Mexico
April 29 2009
Travellers from an international flight are pictured on a thermographic device as they arrived at Sofia airport in Bulgaria
April 29 2009
Students and parents leave Kilmer Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois. There has been a confirmed case of the flu at the school, which will be closed until further notice
April 29 2009
A Belarussian veterinarian vaccinates pigs at a hog farm in the village of Vnuchki, 360 km south-west of Minsk. There are no confirmed cases of swine flu in Belarus, but authorities and concerned citizens are keeping a wary eye
April 29 2009
At a pig farming centre near Cairo, farmers prevented health ministry workers from slaughtering their pigs. The Egyptian government has ordered a massive culling of swine throughout the country
April 29 2009
Airport security officers stand next to a banner with information about the swine flu virus at Allama Iqbal international airport in Lahore. Pakistan has taken precautionary measures at airports and sea ports to monitor the swine flu virus. No case has been reported in any part of the country, said Abdur Rasheed Juma, a top health official
April 29 2009
A waiter wears a face mask as a precaution against swine flu as he works in a restaurant in Mexico City. Mexico ordered restaurants to limit service to takeout as part of a citywide shut down to help contain the spread of the virus. The sign at left reads in Spanish: 'Due to the current situation, our food will be to go.'
April 29 2009
Tourists Scott Edgar, left, and Matt Metlege, of Canada, sunbathe at the nearly empty Gran Caribe Real hotel's terrace in Cancun, Mexico. While Mexico fights to contain a deadly swine flu outbreak and thousands of businesses in Mexico City have been forced to shut down, the tourism industry is being hurt nationwide
April 28 2009
Robert Nickla prepares clinical samples submitted for influenza testing at the Arizona State Laboratory in Phoenix. Federal officials have confirmed that Arizona has recorded its first case of the new swine flu
April 28 2009
South Korean quarantine officers take samples from a baby who arrived from the US at Incheon airport, west of Seoul. South Korea reported its first probable case of swine flu after positive preliminary tests on a woman who had just returned from a trip to Mexico
