by Melani Manel Perera

An eight-year-old child is the first patient. He came with his family to attend a wedding. Health authorities call for calm, reassure the public that the epidemic will be contained.

Colombo (AsiaNews) –The first case of swine flu was reported in Sri Lanka yesterday. The patient is an eight-year-old child who arrived here from Australia where the infection is spreading rapidly. The child was put in isolation in a hospital in Angoda, not far from the capital.

At a press conference called to reassure the population, health authorities said people should “not panic as medical facilities” are up and running and able “to contain the spread of the disease.”

The Health Ministry also said that the country had enough stock of medicine to cope with the situation.

Sri Lankan authorities expect the virus to spread in the country. Some 1,823 cases have been reported so far in Australia, home to a large Sri Lankan expatriate community.

A relative of the child was hospitalised in Singapore with high fever.

The sick child was part of a group of eight people that came to Sri Lanka for a wedding in Wattala, near Colombo.

The Health Ministry announced that everyone who attended the ceremony will be tested for possible infection.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), some 35,928 H1N1 cases have been reported in 75 countries with 162 deaths.

The highest number of cases has been reported in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

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