Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is handing out 100,000 facemasks to taxi drivers and foreign tourists in a bid to prevent the swine flu outbreak here, which has spread to at least nine countries and killed at least 160 people, mainly in Mexico.

"Taxi drivers should wear facemasks while driving for their passengers," Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Malinee Sukavejworakit said on Wednesday, adding that Bangkok authorities will give out the facemasks for free via taxi corporations and guesthouses, according to The Nation's website.

Malinee added that she had already instructed all district offices in Bangkok to keep extra surveillance over hotels, guesthouses and tourist hangouts.

Entrepreneurs in tourist zones are expected to report to the health authorities through the hotline around the clock if they suspect any tourist of getting the swine flu, and pamphlets about the flu will be handed out to relevant entrepreneurs, Malinee said.

BMA will also hold a meeting of representatives from medical facilities, clinics and pharmacies in the capital. "We will brief them about how to identify patients suspected of getting the swine flu," Maliee said.

Meanwhile, the Chulalongkorn Hospital announced Wednesday that thorough lab tests confirmed that a female patient, who developed flu-like symptoms after a trip to Mexico, just caught common seasonal flu, clearing the suspect that Thailand may had its first swine flu patient.

The virus, a mix of pig, bird and human genes to which people have limited natural immunity, was initially found in Mexico. Swine flu has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu -- fever, cough and sore throat -- and spreads like regular flu, through tiny particles in the air, when people cough or sneeze. People with flu symptoms are advised to stay at home, wash their hands and cover their sneezes.

In addition to about 160 deaths, the virus is believed to have sickened 2,498 people across Mexico.

In the United States, nearly 100 have been sickened in 11 states, with a 23-month-old Mexican boy in Houston on Monday being the first and only death case so far outside Mexico.

The first human-to-human infection in Europe has been confirmed when a Spanish man caught the flu after his girlfriend brought the virus back with her from a holiday in Mexico. The disease has now reached at least nine countries in four continents.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)