Health officials deliberately did not alert the public about Oxford’s first case of swine flu for almost 24 hours, we can reveal.

Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust told the public a six-year-old girl – a pupil at Sandhills Primary School who had recently returned from Mexico – had the illness at 3pm last Saturday, May 2.

However, the PCT has now admitted the case had been confirmed almost 24 hours earlier, at 5pm on Friday, May 1.

It said it was just following national guidelines – but was criticised for keeping the information secret.

In a statement issued today, PCT spokesman Cathryn Bullimore said: “The Health Protection Agency guideline is that all new cases of swine flu should be announced at 3pm.

“The Oxfordshire case, which was confirmed later on the afternoon of Friday, May 1, could not therefore be officially released until 3pm the following day.”

She added: “When the first case was confirmed, we followed national guidelines to balance the need to protect the privacy of the child and the need to tell people what was happening.

“For this reason we did not name the school, although staff at the school and parents were kept informed about the situation.

“It was also agreed that as the girl had not been infectious while at school, there was no need to treat fellow pupils with antivirals and no need to close the school.”

Further confusion arose because a bulletin issued by the primary school on Friday, May 1, wrongly stated the PCT had told the school the child did have flu but that it was not “the strain currently in the news”.

Sandhills headteacher Stephanie Lovett clarified how events unfolded.

She said: “Our school bulletin was published in good faith at 3pm on Friday, May 1.

“However, a matter of hours later the news came through that our pupil had swine flu, rendering the bulletin out-of-date not long after it had been distributed.

“If we at the school misunderstood information provided by the health authorities, that was a genuine mistake on our part.

“My aim throughout was to try to keep parents informed and we telephoned every parent promptly on Saturday.”

County council chief executive Joanna Simons added: “The county council was told about a positive test result for swine flu late on Friday, May 1. By 7pm I had personally contacted local councillors and cabinet members and told them of the news.”

Last night Roz Smith, county councillor for Barton and Churchill, remained critical of the way the case was handled.

She said: “I still believe people should be given the latest information as soon as possible.

“I have had phone calls from parents who said they would have liked to have had more information sooner.

“I think the school behaved responsibly, but the PCT and county council did not act helpfully by delaying the public announcement.

“I think it caused unnecessary anxiety, which is a great shame.”

The six-year-old girl has recovered fully and returned to school.