The Panama Canal announced on Wednesday it will set sanitary measures to protect its staff from a possible infection with the swine flu, the Authority of Panama Canal (ACP) said.

"After the announcement of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Panamanian Health Ministry on the flu cases affecting some countries, the ACP has taken measures to protect its employees who enter vessels in transit," ACP said.

Some of the measures are the use of masks, gloves and hands disinfectant based on alcohol.

"Also we will continue applying the seasonal flu vaccine to all the employees, despite it is not against the swine flu, it partially counteract it," ACP said.

The authority said that its employees have been informed of the transmission ways of the virus, of the symptoms and the measures they should take to avoid infections.

Panamanian authorities have also taken preventive measures at airports, ports and all bordering points to avoid infections.

To the moment, Panama had reported three suspicious cases but after the lab tests it was denied the presence of swine flu in the country.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)