According to the official, only four African countries - Morocco, South Africa, Algeria and Egypt - have confirmed cases of the influenza. However, she indicated that there were three cases that they suspected in Botswana.

"Of the three laboratory specimens sent to South Africa, two have been confirmed as negative and we are waiting for the results of the third. All have fully recovered and currently none are under observation," she disclosed.The three were identified at Sir Seretse Khama airport last week Wednesday when they arrived in the country.

In an interview after the briefing, the ministry's public health specialist, Dr Nesredin Jami, said they had shown symptoms associated with the pandemic.

"One of them, a woman was coughing and had a sore throat. All of them had flu signs which had taken more than a week and two of them, Batswana, had visited China, Hong Kong and Thailand, countries which have confirmed cases of the H1N1 influenza. The other one, also a woman, is a United States citizen, where they have confirmed cases of the influenza," he said.

El Halabi said that they have established structures to raise the level of preparedness in Botswana. She said there is a Multi-Sectoral Pandemic Influenza National Task Force spearheaded by the Ministry of Health. "It oversees the operations of four technical working groups working at the national level and every district has a Rapid Response Team, which has been trained to respond to local outbreaks of communicable diseases," she said.

Some of the interventions that are in place, according to the director, include routine weekly and case-based reporting formats, which have been prepared and distributed to hospitals. Screening tools have been developed, distributed and implemented at major international airports. Districts have started sending summary screened travellers.They have also conducted orientation for Immigration, the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), South African Airways, Air Botswana and South African Express.

"Communication with airlines to protect their employees and passengers and to report suspected cases to CAA prior to landing. Lists of flight passenger details to be provided in case of a case, strengthening of surveillance among domestic and wild animals (pigs) to reinforce existing on-going activities by Ministry of Agriculture," she said.

Her ministry has developed influenza management guideline to properly identify and manage suspected and confirmed cases, she added. According to El Halabi, case management of influenza H1N1 takes into consideration severity of illness, risk for complications and laboratory test results. She revealed that Post Exposure Prophylaxis would be made by a medical officer.She said that at the moment they do not recommend pre-exposure because it requires continued administration once it is initiated until the pandemic is over because there is high risk of frequent exposure and infection.

There is fear of untoward drug effects and development of drug resistance, she said, also adding that "easily applicable and effective pre-exposure preventive measures are available, such as hygiene measures and personal protective measures," she said.