A 12-YEAR-OLD girl from the Westcountry has been confirmed as one of three new UK cases of swine flu.

The schoolgirl from Torbay brings the total number of people infected with the virus in Britain to five, including the two previously identified in Scotland.

The school involved is Paignton Community and Sports College.

The school has been closed and all other pupils offered anti-viral drugs.

The case of the schoolgirl, named locally as Year 7 pupil Amy Whitehouse, was first revealed today by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a House of Commons' statement.

He added that the two other new cases involved adults, one from Birmingham and one from London, and that all three had recently travelled to Mexico.

Mr Brown said the UK is taking “the preparations that are necessary and the precautions to prevent the incidence of this disease in this country”.

Measures include enhanced airport checks, expanding anti-viral stocks from 35 million to 50 million, ordering extra face masks and printing an information leaflet for every family.

Mr Brown told MPs: “In addition to those two members of the public who have contracted swine flu and are in the Monklands area, and who I understand are getting better, there are three further confirmed cases.”

“All of them have mild symptoms and are receiving and responding well to treatment. The school in which the 12-year-old is educated will close down for the time being and all the pupils will be offered the tamiflu anti-viral.”

Later, Health Secretary Alan Johnson revealed the 12-year-old girl was on the same flight from Mexico as the Askhams, the Scottish couple who have also been diagnosed with swine flu.

The minister added that all cases of swine flu so far are directly linked to Mexico and said the UK was taking steps to increase stockpiles of anti-virals to provide for 50 million people.

Current stocks would cover 33 million – about half of the UK’s population.

Meanwhile, staff at Paignton Community and Sports College referred all inquiries today to the local health authority, Torbay Care Trust.

A spokesman at Torbay Care Trust could not confirm which of the school’s two sites had been closed but said a statement would be issued with further details.

Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay Adrian Sanders said he was closely monitoring the situation in his constituency, and liaising with local authorities and health ministers.

He confirmed that the infected schoolgirl attended Paignton Community College - which remains open while students are given anti-viral drugs.

He said: “The site is not currently closed. It’s a two-site college. It’s not clear if the intention is to close both sites or just the junior site.

“The first thing that needs to be done is get the anti-viral drug to the pupils. It’s far better to do that on site, with all the children together.

“The problem here is people’s fears are probably greater than the the actual risk. We need people to remain calm and listen to advice from the health authority.

Mr Sanders did not have any information on the condition of the 12-year-old girl. He said he understood she had recently “returned from a holiday”.

The first two confirmed patients, Iain and Dawn Askham, of Polmont, near Falkirk, had been on honeymoon in Mexico and were being treated in isolation at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, today.

Their parents said the newlywed couple were “shocked” at the positive test results.

Other countries with confirmed cases of swine flu are Mexico, the US, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Spain and Israel.

In the US, government officials said swine flu killed a 23-month-old child, the first death reported outside Mexico.

The toddler died in Texas, Dr Richard Besser, acting director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview with CNN.

Full coverage in Thursday's Western Morning News.