On Tuesday, the KwaZulu-Natal Health Department made an effort to allay fears of the possibility of an outbreak of swine flu in the province. This despite the fact that no South African airports are currently taking precautions against potentially infected travellers. No cases had been reported at that point, and according to the KZN Health Department, authorities had taken adequate measures to make sure that they were ready to respond if a case were to be identified in the country.

Sapa-AP reported that the swine flu had spread to the Middle East and the South Pacific, New Zealand has confirmed 11 cases and Israel has confirmed one as well, not to mention numerous reports of suspected cases in Asia. World health officials rallied to contain the outbreak, raising the global alert level as more deaths are being reported in Mexico.