Five people who exhibited flu-like symptoms on board a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane today have been cleared of having swine flu.
Quarantine officials removed the passengers from Qantas flight 16 at 6.10am today, a Qantas spokeswoman said.
Chief health officer Jeannette Young said a woman in her mid 20s and one in her mid 40s were taken off the flight, however they had since been sent home with Tamiflu medication.
"Both of those people fell ill with flu-like symptoms,'' Dr Young said.
"They've been ill in the last 24 hours and they've had contact with people in Mexico.''
Swine flue facts: What is it? How do people become infected? Ten in NSW being tested for swine flu DFAT travel advice for Australians travelling to Mexico Another three people from the flight had also been screened by quarantine officials but cleared, Qantas said.
The Queensland Premier Anna Bligh today activated the state's pandemic plan as at least 14 people presented with suspected cases of the deadly swine flu in the state's southeast.
In NSW, five patients with symptoms consistent with the flu are being kept in isolation after being tested for the swine flu strain. Four are from Sydney and one from the Central Coast. Results will not be known until the end of the week.
Two people in Tasmania recently arrived from the swine flu affected Americas also have been asked to remain in their homes after presenting with flu-like symptoms.
Tasmania's Health Minister Lara Giddings told Parliament one of the two lived on Tasmania's northwest coast and another on the east coast.
She said one had returned from the United States and the other from Mexico in the past six to eight days.
Presently there are no confirmed cases of swine flu in Australia.
The death toll from the swine flu outbreak in Mexico has now risen to 149, and almost 2000 others are believed to have been infected.
The World Health Organisation has raised its global alert level on the virus to Phase 4, which means there is sustained human-to-human transmission in at least one country. Level six is a full-fledged pandemic.
The Mexican government had closed local schools and banned major cultural and sporting events that attract large numbers of people in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus.
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