Luxembourg, May 1 (Inditop) Health ministers from 27 European Union (EU) nations have failed to reach an agreement on a French call to temporarily ban all EU flights to Mexico in view of the deadly swine flu outbreak in that country.
They however stressed on a coordinated approach to fight the swine flu.
France has urged the EU to suspend all flights to Mexico where the deadly influenza A(H1N1) virus (also known as swine flu) have killed more than 170 people.
The EU ministers did not agree on the proposal nor did they issue any travel warning against Mexico, as most of the countries have doubted the effectiveness of such a ban in containing the further spread of the flu.
Czech Health Minister Daniela Filipiova said Thursday “any (EU) reaction” to the disease “will continue to be a common one” and any action taken by the EU “should be in a coordinated manner”.
The ministers called for cooperation at the international level to fight swine flu.
They agreed to cooperate “without delay” with the pharmaceutical sector to develop a vaccine to treat swine flu and share health information concerning the treatment and prevention of the disease.
They have also decided to establish a special expert committee that will meet regularly to coordinate measures in fighting the flu.
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