MEXICO CITY - The rising death toll from the Mexican swine flu epidemic sent a wave of panic around the world Monday with the United States declaring a public health emergency and other nations ordering border clampdowns.

Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the number of confirmed and suspected swine flu deaths had hit 103. In the capital, residents donned blue face

masks and stocked up on food and water in anticipation of a long lockdown.

President Felipe Calderon called for calm but governments around the world ordered emergency measures to contain suspected cases and stock markets blamed the flu for a new share battering.

China and Thailand joined Russia in banning meat imports from Mexico and the five US states where 20 swine flu cases have been confirmed.

The European Union began organising an emergency meeting of health ministers, and governments put strict security around flights from Mexico, taking any suspected cases into quarantine.

The World Health Organisation has warned that swine flu -- apparently born out of a mix of human and avian flu viruses that infected pigs -- could become a pandemic and called for all nations to "intensify surveillance".

The number of suspected cases in Mexico has reached 1,614, up from 1,324, the health minister said on national television.

President Calderon urged people to join efforts to contain the virus. He said Mexicans had to "move fast, but to maintain calm and cooperate with the authorities."

Mexico City was deserted after its 20 million residents were ordered to avoid crowds, and a football game Sunday at the 105,000-seat Aztec stadium was played with no fans.

The only confirmed cases outside Mexico are the 20 in the United States and six in Canada.

The United States will screen visitors arriving from infected areas, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said, announcing a public health emergency to expedite the testing and treatment of flu cases.

Richard Besser, acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there were eight confirmed cases in New York City, seven in California, two in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio.

US President Barack Obama is monitoring the swine flu outbreak closely and has ordered a "very active, aggressive, and coordinated response," said White House homeland security advisor John Brennan.

Napolitano said the government intends to release a quarter of the national stockpile of 50 million doses of the Tamiflu and Relenza anti-viral drugs.

The Defense Department, she added, has procured seven million treatment courses of Tamiflu.

After China, Thailand and Russia banned some US pork imports, US officials insisted it was virtually impossible to catch swine flu from eating meat as long as it is properly cooked.

Authorities across the Asia-Pacific region, which has in recent years been at the forefront of the SARS and bird flu epidemics, stepped up checks at airports and urged the public to be on guard for symptoms.

Ten New Zealand students who recently traveled to Mexico are "likely" to have contracted swine fever, Health Minister Tony Ryall said -- the first suspected cases in the region of more than three billion people.

Two people admitted to an Australian hospital with flu symptoms after returning from Mexico finally tested negative for deadly swine flu.

In Malaysia, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said even travellers arriving from the United States were being screened. Thai authorities installed thermal scanners at Bangkok airport to monitor passengers.

Spain screened all passengers arriving off flights from Mexico and tested eight suspected swine flu cases. Two patients in Scotland were also under observation after their return from Mexico.

However, four suspicious cases in France were given the all-clear.

Nine people in Colombia and one in Brazil were placed under observation after they arrived from Mexico with flu symptoms. In the Middle East, a 26-year-old Israeli was hospitalized in Netanya on returning from Mexico.

Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche said it was ready to send out more stocks of Tamiflu, which it manufactures, but stock markets around the world took fright over the outbreak.

Airline stocks in particular plunged on worries that governments could impose travel restrictions.

"Swine flu is ripping through the markets creating uncertainty in its wake," said Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at financial spread-betting firm ETX Capital in London.