The Colombian government said on Wednesday that the number of swine flu possible cases rose to 49 and 10 of them have high possibilities of being infected with the virus due to the symptoms them have.

Colombian Social Protection Minister Diego Palacio said it will take two or three weeks to know if the patients have the virus and he said they are analyzing the possibility of suspending school activities in all the country.

"The suspicious cases have increased, but we have to be careful. There are people who fulfill some requirements, they have fever, they have been in Mexico or with people who arrived from that country," Palacio added.

Palacio said that on Tuesday there were 42 patients under observations after they presented swine flu symptoms, which began in Mexico where it have been official reported seven deaths according to Mexican authorities and the World Health Organization(WHO).

"In some case we have taken samples and they were taken to US. We do not know when we are going to have an answer, because the situation is not easy for those labs," Palacio added.

The main airports of the country and ports have reinforced the control measures with passengers coming from Mexico and US.

The samples of the patients possible infected with the virus were sent to Atlanta, US, where they will be examined to determine if they have swine flu or not.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)