Panaji, Aug 5 - Goa will invoke the Epidemic control Act (ECA), 1897, to curb the spread of influenza A (H1N1) once the state's busy tourism season gets underway in October, Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane said Wednesday.

Rane's announcement comes barely a day after the Maharashtra government invoked the act in Pune and Satara districtS after a 14-year-old Pune schoolgirl died of swine flu.

'Maharashtra has invoked the act because there are thousands of international guests arriving at its (Mumbai) airport. We don't feel it is required for Goa at this moment. But once the tourist season starts we will put this act into effect,' Rane told reporters here.

The epidemic act gives health authorities the power to forcibly admit and treat any swine flu patient at a government-run hospital.

'If this (swine flu) is not controlled worldwide, Goa will have to enforce the act once the tourist season starts,' Rane said, adding that Goa receives tourists from all over the world, including from countries particularly affected by swine flu.