page_title: 2009 swine flu pandemic in Oceania
section_title: Australia
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 swine flu pandemic in Oceania / Australia
context_page_description: The 2009 flu pandemic in Oceania, part of an epidemic in 2009 of a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 causing what has been commonly called swine flu, has afflicted at over 22,000 people in Oceania, with 56 confirmed deaths. Almost all of the cases in Oceania have been in Australia, where the majority of cases have resulted from internal community spread of the virus. In addition, the government of New Zealand, where most of the remainder of cases in Oceania have occurred, is on high alert for any people travelling into the country with flu-like symptoms.
context_section_description: As of July 9, 7,290 cases confirmed in Australia with 20 confirmed deaths. The alert level has been lifted from "delay" to "contain", giving authorities in all states the option to close schools if students are at risk.
  Australia has a stockpile of 8.7 million doses of Tamiflu and Relenza. Airlines have been required to report passengers from the Americas with influenza symptoms, and nurses have been deployed at international airports.
  On May 9, the first confirmed case in Australia was reported.
  On May 20, four additional cases were reported, one in New South Wales and three in Victoria.
  On May 21, an additional case was reported in Victoria.  Victorian health authorities close Clifton Hill Primary School for two days (initially) after three brothers return to the school from a trip to Disneyland and are confirmed to have H1N1.
  On May 22, cases were reported in South Australia and Victoria, including the first reported cases where the virus was contracted in Australia.
  On May 25, the first confirmed case in Western Australia was reported.
  On May 26, 3 additional cases were reported in Sydney.  The newly confirmed cases involved two children who arrived in Sydney on the cruise ship named Pacific Dawn and another child who had recently returned from a trip to the United States.  NSW Health issued a directive to the 2000 passengers who arrived in Sydney on the Pacific Dawn requiring that they stay at home for 7 days.
  On 19 June the first confirmed death from swine flu in Australia was a 26-year-old Aboriginal man from Kiwirrkurra Community in the Western Desert of Western Australia who died in Royal Adelaide Hospital.
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