Samoa's health authorities are waiting on flu samples to find out if a group of visiting Australian students have the A(H1N1) flu, otherwise known as swine flu.
According to Australia Network News, '25 girls and four staff from Melbourne in the south-eastern state of Victoria are currently in voluntary quarantine at their hotel, along with six hotel staff members, after four members of the group complained of flu symptoms'.The samples were sent to New Zealand and Samoa is anticipating the results with health authorities stating that they are concerned the results will come back positive as the country is not prepared to deal with a swine flu outbreak.
Also, according to Papua New Guinea's The National, seven patients were quarantined in Port Moresby over suspected symptoms, however, the newspaper was yet been unable to get a definite confirmation.
Earlier this month, the region confirmed its first swine flu case in Tahiti and the whole region is on alert for the virus with many countries stepping up controls at the borders and ports of entry.
Last week, World Health Organization (WHO) announced that alert for the A(H1N1) flu has been upgraded to level 6, the highest level making it a pandemic.
The latest update recorded 29,669 confirmed cases in 74 countries and its Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, stated that 'of greatest concern is how the virus will behave under conditions typically found in the developing world as to date', a category in which countries in the region fall under.