REUTERS - A swimming event in Melbourne was cancelled due to fears about the H1N1 virus on Tuesday, but a top Australian health official played down the flu's threat and said organisers had not sought government advice.

The Telstra Grand Prix, a mixed short and long-course event scheduled for June 20-21, had been called off in the best interests of the swimmers, Kevin Neil, CEO of Swimming Australia, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The announcement came a day after an entire state rugby league team were quarantined after one of their players contracted the virus following a match in Melbourne last week.
 

"Swimming Australia has a duty of care in relation to our athletes, as well as ensuring we give them the best chance possible to prepare for the World Championships in Rome," said Neil.

"It is a regrettable decision to have to make, yet one that we have made with all the information available."

Roughly half of Australia's squad for the world championships in Rome this year had been expected to compete at the Melbourne event including Brenton Rickard, who took silver in the men's 200 metre backstroke at the Beijing Olympics, and women's 100m freestyle bronze medallist Cate Campbell.

'MILD DISPLAY'

Neil said a high proportion of school students had been expected to participate in the meeting.

Several Australian states have imposed quarantine restrictions to keep students away from school for up to a week after returning from excursions to the southern state of Victoria, where Melbourne is the capital city.

Reported H1N1 cases in Victoria have soared in recent weeks and prompted authorities in neighbouring states and Asian countries to discourage travel there.

Of Australia's 1,211 total cases, 1,011 have been reported in Victoria alone, Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon told reporters on Tuesday.

The health minister described the event's cancellation as "regrettable" and said Swimming Australia had not consulted government health officers in making the decision.

Fewer than 10 of the flu cases nationwide had required hospitalisation, she added.

"I would urge those who are organising events to make sure that their decisions are based on medical advice and the nature of course of the event to be held," Roxon said.

"I need to emphasise that the public health advice is very clearly that there is no need to restrict domestic travel, that this isn't an appropriate or a proportionate response to the mild, to date, display of H1N1 in Australia."

More than 130 new cases were reported in Victoria over the weekend, local media said.

Australia head coach Alan Thompson said the grand prix event's cancellation was not ideal but the decision had been taken with in the swimmers' interests.

"Of course we would have liked to have staged the event, but I know coaches and swimmers are already planning on running time trials in their own states to simulate the racing they would have had in Melbourne," Thompson said.

The H1N1 flu has infected more than 25,000 people in over 70 countries and killed 139, according to the World Health Organisation.