Seven people who came into contact with the couple who have been confirmed as suffering from swine flu are awaiting tests to establish whether or not they too have contracted the disease.

The two confirmed patients, Iain and Dawn Askham, from Polmont, near Falkirk, had been on honeymoon in the east Mexican resort of Cancun and are being treated in isolation at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.

The couple, pictured at their wedding, returned to Scotland on April 21. They were admitted to hospital after showing symptoms.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon confirmed on Monday night that the two patients had tested positive and seven of 22 people who had been in contact with them were showing "mild symptoms".

Ms Sturgeon told a press conference in Edinburgh: "I can confirm that tests have demonstrated conclusively that the two Scottish cases of suspected swine flu are positive.

"However, I am pleased to say both patients are recovering well.

"I would reiterate that the threat to the public remains low and that the precautionary actions we have taken over the last two days have been important in allowing us to respond appropriately and give us the best prospect of disrupting the spread of the virus."

She added: "We remain very encouraged by the fact that, outside Mexico, everyone who has contracted swine flu has experienced mild symptoms only."

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Chief medical officer Dr Harry Burns said that it appeared swine flu was not as aggressive as the previous avian flu strain. He said that particular illness had had a "very high mortality".

Dr Burns added: "It looks on the face of it, given that so many of the cases that have been identified outside Mexico, all of them as far as I'm aware, have had very minor symptoms.

"It does seem as if this may turn out to be much less aggressive and virulent than the avian flu strain.

"That's a very positive thing and I think it's very important that people do not run away with the idea that this is the same as the avian flu we were concerned about."

He added: "We need to wait and see what emerges with this one but so far thankfully, everyone we've seen in North America and New Zealand seems to have had a relatively minor illness."

So far 152 people are thought to have been killed in Mexico by the virus, which is caused when the H1N1 strain associated with pigs crosses over to the human population.

Outbreaks have also been confirmed in the United States, Canada and Spain.

Suspected cases from New Zealand to Israel were raising concern that the new virus was spreading rapidly.

It was also confirmed that four people in the Republic of Ireland were being tested.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)  has raised its alert over the outbreak, signifying a "significant increase in risk of a pandemic".

The WHO updated its classification of the outbreaks from phase three to phase four, out of six possible levels. Phase three indicates sporadic instances of the illness amongst humans, phase four denotes evidence of human-to-human transmission and signs of community-level outbreaks (more details here).

Meanwhile, Britons have been warned to avoid all but essential travel to Mexico as world health officials said the deadly swine flu virus can no longer be contained.

The Foreign Office said: "We are now advising against all but essential travel to Mexico."

It added that British nationals "resident in or visiting Mexico may wish to consider whether they should remain in Mexico at this time".