Kupelo said the department appealed to doctors not to send off for laboratory tests on mild cases of flu, whether suspected H1N1 or not.
However tests should always be done where people were HIV positive, pregnant, diabetic or had heart problems.
The department could not quarantine flu sufferers, but it did urge them to "contain themselves", and not mix with other people.
SHOOT: Interesting that we are already moving to a situation of resources being overwhelmed, with docotors encouraged not to send in samples, and people urged to 'quarantined themselves', and this is from a mild infection.
The national health department says its swine flu hotline will open for business tomorrow.
The line would give members of the public a chance to ask questions about and request information on the H1N1 virus, the department said.
The disease has so far claimed six lives in South Africa.
"The line will be operated by trained personnel on communicable diseases who will in turn be supported by [a] second line made up of experts from the department," the department said.
The department said it was also running a dedicated email query service, at H1N1@health.gov.za.
In the Eastern Cape, the provincial health department today repeated its calls for calm in the face of the swine flu outbreak.
"We want to reiterate our call for people not to panic, because there’s no reason for panic," spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said.
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clipped from www.thetimes.co.za
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