HONG KONG, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The A/H1N1 flu virus is further spreading in the Asia-Pacific region as a number of new confirmed cases of the influenza were reported on Wednesday, prompting more measures to prevent the disease in some countries.

Staff members wearing biomedical masks keep watch over people arriving at Tan Tock Seng hospital in Singapore May 27, 2009. The Singapore government on Wednesday confirmed the city-state's first H1N1 flu case, a 22-year-old Singaporean woman who is being quarantined in hospital. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The number of Australians confirmed with A/H1N1 flu doubled in just 24 hours after hundreds of people were allowed to leave a cruise ship which had infected people on board.

    Fears are growing that the virus is now out of control across Australia as the confirmed cases rose to 61 on Wednesday morning.

    The New South Wales government was also caught up in the scare after its Tourism Minister Jodi McKay attended a ministerial meeting after flying in from the U.S. on a plane carrying infected passengers.

    The minister returned to Sydney from Los Angeles on Tuesday. Six passengers on the plane later tested positive for the new flu virus.

    The virus has spread rapidly across Australia after 2,000 passengers on a cruise ship in Sydney were allowed to go home on Tuesday. Fourteen ship passengers have since tested positive.

    In South Korea, the health authorities said Wednesday they have confirmed two more cases of Influenza A/H1N1, raising the number of infection in the country to 29.

    According to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, one American English teacher and a South Korean back from the United States recently were newly confirmed to have been infected with the H1N1 virus.

    Separately, the ministry said that it is examining two other suspected cases of the new flu.

    The Philippine health authorities on Wednesday confirmed four more people infected with the A/H1N1 flu virus, bringing the cases to six in the Southeast Asian country.

    Heath Secretary Francisco Duque III said the four patients included a 13-year-old boy who came from Hong Kong, China; a one-year-old girl who traveled from the United States; and a 55-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman who were contacts of a confirmed case from Taiwan, China.

    Singapore reported its first case of Influenza A/H1N1 on Wednesday as a 22-year-old Singaporean woman was confirmed to have the virus.

    The patient was in New York from May 14 to 24 and returned to Singapore from New York on SQ25 on May 26 at 6:30 a.m. local time.

    Singapore's Health Ministry (MOH) said it has initiated contact tracing of her close contacts.

    Meanwhile, China's Hong Kong reported two new confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu on Wednesday, taking the number of confirmed cases in the city to 12.

    A spokesman for the Department of Health said the two patients involved were a four-year-old boy and the mother of the two children who were confirmed to have been infected with the virus on May 25.

    According to the latest tally by the World Health Organization (WHO), 46 countries have officially reported 12,954 cases of Influenza A/H1N1 infection, including 92 deaths. All deaths have occurred in Mexico, the United States, Canada and Costa Rica.

    To date, the confirmed cases of the flu in the Asia-Pacific region have increased to 503, including: Japan 364; Australia 61; South Korea 29; China 28 ( 10 in Mainland, 12 in Hong Kong, 6 in Taiwan); New Zealand 9; the Philippines 6; Thailand 2; Malaysia 2;India 1 and Singapore 1.

    The situation further cautions the authorities in the region. Australia's New South Wales (NSW) health authority announced Wednesday that all cruise ships arriving in Sydney would be treated as if they have A/H1N1 flu on board under strict new health controls,

    NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant indicated the measures to be taken by medical authorities would depend on a case-by-case basis.

    Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon urged on Wednesday the public to follow an appropriate A/H1N1 flu etiquette in an attempt to control the rapidly spreading virus.

    Brunei residents have been urged to fully cooperate with the Health Ministry to contain the spread of Influenza A/H1N1 virus in the country. Acting Director of Health Services Maslina Hj Mohsin urged Bruneians to avoid going to the affected countries and advised those already fallen sick to postpone their travels.

    Residents returning from those affected countries in the past seven to ten days should get in touch with the relevant authorities immediately, Maslina was quoted as saying by the Brunei Times.

    For two to three weeks, some 80-85 percent of Thai people, who earlier planned to travel abroad, had canceled their planned overseas trips on fears of the A/H1N1 flu outbreak, said Charoen Wangananon, spokesman of the Federation of Thai Tourism Association.