New policy on swine flu in Cypru

The Cyprus Health Ministry is to implement a new policy in order to control the spread of the H1N1 virus, the head of the committee dealing with the problem, Chrystalla Hadjianastassiou, has said.

From now on, the ministry will carry out lab tests "selectively" on people with serious symptoms, specific groups and high risk individuals.

Following the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the ministry stopped issuing announcements on the number of daily cases from Wednesday.

The Army Recruitment Training Centre in Larnaca has recorded seven cases of the virus among new recruits while 19 additional cases are being investigated.

Defence Minister Costas Papacostas confirmed the cases, calling for calm and saying there was no reason to panic as the required measures were being taken.