Following the announcement, special attention was being paid to a man of about fifty in the Antwerp University hospital, where he had also been diagnosed with swine flu. His condition was said to be critical. The two cases are not related.

The first death from swine flu came as a surprise because the woman does not belong to any of the risk groups: children, the elderly, those with a compromised immune system. But according to Marc Van Ranst, the man in charge of the government's influenza commission, young people's stronger immune system can put them at a disadvantage, by causing them to overreact to infection by the virus.

There is no reason for panic, the ministry stressed. The first fatality would not lead to a change in policy. "We knew this could happen," the spokesman said, pointing out that some 15,000 people die every year from ordinary winter flu. The pattern of infection in the country has not changed, he said. And in comparison with other countries, the rate of infection in Belgium remains relatively low.