MEXICO was approved for $3 billion (€2.26bn) in international loans to fight the swine flu crisis, as the country began a five-day shutdown yesterday to try to halt the spread of the virus.

MEXICO’S chief epidemiologist accused the World Health Organisation of being slow to respond to the country’s warning about a health crisis that turned into a global swine flu scare and called for an investigation.

World health experts were today accused of initially ignoring the dangers of swine flu.

The first case of human-to-human transmission of swine flu was confirmed in Germany today.

The swine flu epidemic crossed new borders today with the first cases confirmed in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

A Mexican village close to a pig farm believes it was the source of the swine flu now threatening to throw the world into a panic.

World health officials today raced to extinguish a new flu strain that has already spread to five countries and is jumping borders.

Mexico ordered all schools across the country to close today as the death toll from the swine virus outbreak climbed to 149.

Around the world today countries rushed to deal in their own way with swine flu fears.

Health experts were stepping up efforts to contain a deadly outbreak of swine flu today.

Mexicans reacted with fatalism and confusion, anger and mounting fear at the idea that their capital city may be ground zero for a global epidemic of a new kind of flu – a strange mix of human, pig and bird viruses that has epidemiologists deeply concerned.