British Airways has started screening passengers prior to departure following the outbreak of influenza A/H1N1, Zambia Daily Mail reported on Friday.

The airline's commercial manager for Zambia, Chana Musakanya, was quoted as saying in Lusaka on Thursday that a medical team within the airline is monitoring the situation and seeking advice from health authorities to contain the disease in case of an outbreak.

She said the airline, which has a pandemic flu-planning group, is working with public health authorities in providing information to passengers.

"Each department within the airline has been tasked to develop plans to cover essential work in an event that a large number of our personnel are unwell. We have also provided check-in staff and cabin crew with guidance on the actions to take in an event that they suspect that a passenger is unwell," she said in a statement.

Musakanya pledged that airline crew had been provided with information on hygiene precautions and on how to manage cases of the disease, with access to a 24-hour med-link service for any related health enquiries.

The World Health Organization is advising governments globally not to restrict regular travel or closure of borders following the outbreak of the respiratory disease, which is caused by type A influenza viruses.

On Thursday, Mexican health authorities raised the number of confirmed cases to 312, of which 12 were fatalities.

In the United States, a 23-month-old boy from Mexico died in Texas while another 131 people have been confirmed with the disease.

Confirmed cases of Influenza A/H1N1 include 34 in Canada, 13 in Spain, eight in Britain, three each in Germany and New Zealand, two in Israel, one each in Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands.

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2009)