Article from: The Australian


LONDON: Film star Rupert Grint, one of the stars of the Harry Potter franchise, has been infected with swine flu amid new deaths in the pandemic and fears of a carve-up on vaccine access.

Three days before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premieres in London, Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, was revealed to have taken several days off from filming the next in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. "He has now recovered and is looking forward to joining his fellow cast members at the junket and premieres this week, and will then return to filming directly afterwards," his publicist said.

In a sign of concern in the Islamic world at the potential of the annual hajj in November to exacerbate the flu crisis, Tunisia suspended lesser pilgrimages to Mecca known as omra.

Tunisian Religious Affairs Minister Boubaker el-Akhzouri said at the weekend that officials should "reflect on whether or not to postpone the hajj" after taking what he called the "necessary decision" to suspend omra travel.

Global health chiefs warned that international politicking could prevent lives being saved in poor countries. Access to a swine flu vaccine remains a "critical question", World Health Organisation assistant director-general Keiji Fukuda said during a summit on the virus in the Mexican beach town of Cancun.

Mr Fukuda said guaranteeing the vaccine was distributed to underdeveloped nations would require political goodwill.

Fears have emerged that most of the vaccine stock to be produced has been reserved by the US and European countries.

Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said money should not be the only factor taken into consideration.

The virus has infected almost 90,000 people in 125 countries and territories worldwide and caused more than 380 deaths, WHO says.

Macedonia and Syria on Saturday became the latest countries to record their first cases.

The weekend developments followed a chilling assessment from British Health Secretary Andy Burnham, who said there could be 100,000 infections per day across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales by the end of next month.

Four people have died of swine flu in Britain, and the country has Europe's highest number of reported cases, with nearly 7500.

In Brazil, which has confirmed 756 cases, a troupe of actors and entertainers was placed in quarantine after one of them contracted the virus.

New Zealand recorded its first deaths linked to swine flu, with authorities there reporting that three people who died in the past week had the virus.

New Zealand Chief Coroner Neil MacLean said it was "strongly probable" that the AH1N1 virus, which causes swine flu, was a major factor in the deaths of two men, aged 19 and 42, although one had underlying medical conditions as well.