GENEVA/ABU DHABI/KUWAIT CITY: The global tally of recorded swine flu cases has risen to 12,515 Monday, according to the World Health Organization, including the first confirmed case in the United Arab Emirates.
The figure, which includes a total of 91 deaths, represents a rise of 493 on the previous WHO total.
The official WAM news agency quoted UAE Health Minister Hanif Hassan on Sunday as saying a man who had flown in from Canada was being treated in hospital and that although he was no longer showing symptoms he would be kept in for treatment for 10 days.
None of the other passengers from the same flight had shown any symptoms of the disease, the minister added. The patient s nationality has not been disclosed.
WAM did not say at the time which of the region s two international airports he had transited – in the capital Abu Dhabi or in Dubai, a trade and tourism hub.
In Kuwait, 18 US soldiers who tested positive for swine flu have been removed from a military base on Sunday.
Officials said there was no sign swine flu had spread from the soldiers to the local population.
All the 18 soldiers have left Kuwait, the deputy chief of Kuwait s public health department, Yussef Mendkar, told AFP.
They had normal symptoms of the disease and were given the necessary medication.
Mendkar said the US soldiers had had no contact whatsoever with the local population, and that the oil-rich state remained free of swine flu.
Earlier, Kuwait s Undersecretary of Health Ibrahim Al-Abdulhadi told the official KUNA news agency that the soldiers had been immediately isolated at the US base in Arifjan south of the capital. -AFP
