A fifth case of swine flu was confirmed in the UAE yesterday - the fourth in a week. The infected woman, who was identified only as a UAE resident, arrived in the country on Friday, the Ministry of Health told the state news agency, WAM. She is receiving treatment in an unspecified hospital. There were no details of the woman's condition, what country she arrived from or how the infection had been detected.
Two UAE nationals tested positive for the H1N1 virus on Thursday after returning to the country from abroad. Another UAE national who had flown in from the US was confirmed on Monday to have been infected. Last month the UAE's first swine flu patient was discharged from Tawam Hospital in Al Ain and is said to have fully recovered. The man, an academic at UAE University in Al Ain, had flown from Canada.
The Minister of Heath, Dr Hanif Hassan Ali, has said enough antiviral drugs for the population of the UAE have been ordered and would be delivered by September.
The World Health Organisation declared swine flu a pandemic on June 12.
mchung@thenational.ae
