Health officials in Scotland confirmed tonight that two people being tested for swine flu have tested positive for the virus.
Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said at a press conference in Edinburgh today that further seven people are being tested after showing mild symptoms.
The threat to the public remains very low, Ms Sturgeon also said.
The government had acted on the assumption the test results would be positive as a precaution, she added.
A further 22 people who had direct contact with the couple were contacted by authorities and advised on symptoms, she said.
The couple earlier was taken to an isolation unit in Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, central Scotland, and test samples were sent to laboratories in Glasgow and the UK Health Protection Agency at Colindale, London. They arrived back in Scotland on April 21st.
Meanwhile, NHS North West, a regional strategic health authority, said a Canadian woman is being treated at an undisclosed hospital in Manchester with suspected swine flu. She is believed to have been visiting friends in Sale in the south of the city. It is not known if she visited Mexico recently.
An NHS North West spokeswoman said: “The person concerned has been taken to hospital for further tests, in keeping with recommendations, and purely as a precaution.”
One person in Spain has been confirmed as suffering from swine flu in Europe's first case of the disease. The European Union advised travelers to avoid areas affected by the outbreak. Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea are among countries screening travelers for fever, while Hong Kong raised its swine-flu response level to "serious" from "alert".
The US declared swine flu a public health emergency after 20 people contracted the disease.