Bangkok - A 42-year-old Thai civil servant who attended a seminar in Mexico earlier this month has been admitted to hospital and kept under quarantine over a possible swine flu infection, hospital sources said Tuesday. Chulalongkorn Hospital deputy-director Dr Thirapong Charoenwhit said the woman patient was suffering a light fever and has been sick since April 23.

The woman, whose name was not disclosed to the press, had attended a seminar in Mexico from April 3 to 11.

It was still unclear whether the patient, a member of the state-run Chulalongkorn Hospital staff, had picked up the swine flu virus or was suffering from another strain on influenza, Thirapong said.

Like other Asian countries, Thailand has been swift to put in place thermal scanners and quarantine stations at its three main international airports to prevent swine flu sufferers from spreading the virus to the population.

Tuesday the Thai cabinet proposed setting up a joint committee, chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, to supervise swine flu prevention measures in the country, where the tourism sector was hard hit by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) scare of 2003 and the avian influenza pandemic of 2004-05.

Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi said there were 17 government hospitals on full flu alert and the government had enough stockpiles of Tamiflu anti-viral medication to treat 300,000 patients.

"We have to be careful and see where tourists from swine flu-hit countries stay, and their activities will have to be closely monitored," Thai Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said.

The World Health Organization has upgraded the pandemic alert level to phase 4, following a swine flu outbreak in Mexico which may have caused as many as 149 deaths so far.(dpa)