SHOOT: It's not an epidemic. It's under control. People shouldn't fuss too much. Er...sound familiar. Remember that small problem we had a while back. What was it called? AIDS. Also turned out to be a false alarm. Let's concentrate on football now and leave the pandemic stuff for later.
The Department of Health is under fire for its "tardy response" to the swine flu pandemic in the wake of South Africa's first case, which was reported on Thursday.
This criticism comes a week after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak a pandemic - and as foreign visitors flood into the country for the Fifa Confederations Cup soccer tournament and the tour of the British and Irish Lions rugby team.
But the department says it will not change its tactics in its fight against swine flu.
DA health spokesperson Mike Waters has criticised the department for not doing enough to prepare the country for an outbreak of the disease. He also asked why more was not done to scan incoming passengers off international flights to check for infected people.
Waters said informing people about the importance of basic hygiene - such as using handkerchiefs, washing hands regularly hand and cleaning door handles - to reduce the spread, would not have cost the government too much.
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