MANILA - GOVERNMENT work in the Philippines has been interrupted after it was discovered the country's first swine flu-linked fatality was an employee of Congress, officials said on Tuesday.

Speaker Prospero Nograles suspended work at the House of Representatives for five days after it was learned that the 49-year-old woman who tested positive for the influenza A(H1N1) virus after her death had worked at the chamber.

'The latest reported casualty is one of our employees,' Mr Nograles said in a statement, adding that his office was working with the Health Department to mitigate any infection, while congressional staff worked to sanitise the building.

Health Department spokeswoman Asuncion Anden meanwhile declined to confirm reports that the woman had visited the presidential palace a week before she died.

A palace spokesman said there was no need to panic, adding it was up to President Gloria Arroyo to decide if she wanted to quarantine herself on her return from a visit to Japan and Brazil at the end of this week.

The woman died from congestive heart failure aggravated by severe pneumonia. Throat swabs collected after her death on Friday revealed she had influenza A(H1N1) as well.

Although the woman's death was not directly caused by swine flu, she has been listed as the country's first fatality linked to influenza A(H1N1).

The Philippines has 473 confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1), of whom around 400 have already recovered, Anden said. -- AFP