Zimbabwe's Ministry of Health and Child Welfare says there is still no A/H1N1 flu in the country, as the man believed to have contracted the disease tested negative and has since left the country to seek other medical opinion, The Herald said on Friday.

Madzorera was quoted by the daily newspaper as saying that the Belvedere man who was said to have the flu tested negative while the case of the other one, a Zimbabwean, is being handled by South African health authorities.

"I can safely say Zimbabwe has not had any single case of the deadly N1H1 swine flu virus. Blood tests from the Asian man who was put on quarantine in Belvedere later tested negative," he said.

"The other case is of a Zimbabwean who was diagnosed in South Africa and is there for treatment. This means at the moment there is still no case that has originated from within the country," said Madzorera.

He said despite the fact that Zimbabwe has no such case it would remain on high alert and continue to beef up its drug stocks in readiness for the disease.

A/H1N1 flu, which has been detected on all six continents, was declared a pandemic on June 11, making it the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.

Minister Madzorera said there was no need to panic as the ministry, in conjunction with the World Health Organisation country offices, had put in place enough measures to enable a quick detection of the deadly virus.

"We have enough drugs and other resources in place to cater for such conditions and currently training programmes are ongoing for our port health officers. Health officers at all entry points have been put on high alert and will continue carrying out surveillance on all suspected cases," he said.

The virus has been reported in 100 countries resulting in the death of over 400 people globally.

In the region, two countries, South Africa and Botswana have recorded cases of the disease.

Symptoms of the disease include severe headaches, fever above 38 degrees Celsius, chills, severe cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, fatigue and possible pneumonia.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2009)