BRIMBANK is the municipality infected with the second highest number of swine flu cases in Australia.

Health Minister Daniel Andrews revealed last Thursday that Brimbank had 40 reported cases of swine flu, 27 cases below the country’s worst infected municipality - the City of Hume.

The revelation of high figures in Melbourne’s North- West followed the announcement that Victoria would move up from the contain phase of its swine influenza plan to the sustain phase.

Health Minister Daniel Andrews said the decision to move Victoria to a modified sustain phase was made on advice from the Australian Health Protection Committee and the Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Officer.

As part of the new phase, Victoria will:

- give anti-viral treatment to those people exhibiting the agreed clinical case definition of human swine flu, together with their immediate household contacts;

- require confirmed cases to isolate themselves for three days following the commencement of antiviral treatment, but those living the same house will not have to be quarantined;

- maintain intensive contact tracing high risk setting like aged care facilities, hospitals and special schools to protect those at greater risk of sever complications from swine flu; and

- implement enhanced community-wide surveillance of influenze-like illness and undertake increased sampling to monitor the distribution of the virus and changes in the dominant circulating influenza strain.

Under the changes to the Victorian swine flu plan, schools will no longer be required to automatically close if there are several confirmed cases across different classes.

Gilson College, Taylors Hill and Keilor Downs College who had been closed with several cases of swine flu, re-opened last week.