Concerned swine flu awareness is in decline, health authorities are launching an advertising campaign warning people the problem has not gone away.
Newspapers, radio, airport posters and billboards will remind people swine flu is here to stay, with Australia now awash with it, and just a short plane trip away.
While New Zealand numbers have remained stable, health officials told NZPA they expected that to change, as numbers affected in Australia increased four-fold over the weekend.
While a series of screening efforts had been set up at international airports, it was likely New Zealand efforts would eventually have to move from prevention to containment.
New Zealand gets 14 times more visitors per week from Australia than from North America, and they come into a wider range of airports.
The campaign, planned to start at the weekend, will focus on how to prevent the spread of a flu which has killed 115 worldwide -- 97 of those in Mexico.
New Zealand has had only 10 confirmed cases -- none fatal.
A child who arrived in Auckland from North America on Sunday on Air New Zealand flight NZ1 yesterday became the first new case since May 15.
The child was at home in isolation and was being treated with Tamiflu, Ministry of Health director of public health Mark Jacobs said. Officials were contacting other passengers.
Australian health authorities raised the H1N1 flu alert in hardest-hit Victoria state today as confirmed cases jumped to 502 nationwide.
The alert in Victoria, which has the bulk of Australian cases, was raised to "sustain", meaning containment was not possible and people thought to have been exposed would no longer be quarantined, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said.
