The Australian Government has put its health department on high alert after 14 suspected cases of swine flu were reported from Queensland's southeast while 56 others were being probed in New Zealand.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said that the health officials and emergency services were on alert and Queensland Health pandemic plan has been activated.
"We are in the standby phase, making sure we have all the resources available across government if we do have an outbreak," she was quoted in media reports as saying.
Chief health officer Jeanette Young said two women, one in her mid 20s and one in her mid 40s, who were taken off a Qantas flight from Los Angeles that landed in Brisbane, were today sent home with Tamiflu medication.
"Both of those people fell ill with flu-like symptoms," Young said adding, "They've been ill in the last 24 hours and they've had contact with people in Mexico."
Health authorities were still awaiting the results of the two women after swabs were taken.
Meanwhile, the federal cabinet will be briefed today about the likelihood of swine flu striking Australia.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said she and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd were working closely with the country's top doctor and chief medical officer Jim Bishop in this regard.
Apart from the tests on 10 passengers in Queensland,another five people may be infected in NSW, the authorities said.
Meanwhile, New Zealand health authorities were tracing down hundreds of people who have recently returned from Mexico or the United States.
The hunt follows a weekend announcement that nine high school students and a teacher, who had returned from Mexico, had been tested positive for influenza A and were likely to have contracted swine flu.
New Zealand Health Minister Tony Ryall said that other 56 people, who had recently returned to the country and had flu-like symptoms, were being tested for influenza A, a type of virus to which swine flu belongs.
"These are people who have been in Mexico or the United States in the last two weeks," Ryall said.
Since yesterday, airlines servicing Australia from North or South America have been required to report any passengers with flu-like symptoms before being allowed to land.
Roxon said that clinical staff had also been stationed at the country's international airports to detect and treat anyone with such symptoms.
