A woman wears a surgical mask to protect from swine flu at King's Cross, London AFP/GETTY

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BORIS JOHNSON has told Londoners not to buy face masks to combat swine flu as the first confirmed case of the disease hit the capital.

During a television interview to mark his first year in office, the Mayor insisted that people living in London should not rush out to buy the masks.

He said: "There is no need for surgical masks.

"The only people who need them are medical practitioners and even then they have to come within one metre of a person infected with swine flu."

Speaking to BBC London, he said that London is "considerably better prepared today than we were with the bird flu scare a few years ago".

He added the capital has more than £1m worth of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, which has been added to the national stockpile, and pointed out there has so far been only one case reported in London.

Previously he had said that "tried and tested" methods were in place to combat the threat of any outbreak.

Earlier, a 22-year-old man became the first Londoner confirmed to have the disease.

The man from north-west London, as well as a girl from Torbay in Devon and a 41-year-old woman from Redditch, Worcestershire, contracted the disease after a recent visit to Mexico.

Britain's first confirmed victims, Iain and Dawn Askham, of Polmont, near Falkirk, were still being treated in hospital today after falling ill on their return from honeymoon.

The girl was on the same flight back to the UK as the newlyweds.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said a public health campaign will start tomorrow, with newspapers, television and radio carrying adverts warning people about swine flu.

Stockpiles of anti-viral drugs, enough for 33 million people, are being increased to cover 50 million people.

Surgical masks with respirators will be produced for frontline NHS staff.

Meanwhile the pandemic alert level of the World Health Organisation has been raised to phase five of six amid the outbreak of swine flu.

Director General of the organisation Dr Margaret Chan announced the change at a press conference in Geneva.

She said: "Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously, precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world."

Has the Mayor reassured you? Will you be buying a surgical mask? Tell us below