HONG KONG, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The island nation of Vanuatu has recorded its first two cases of influenza A/H1N1 on Thursday, becoming the latest Pacific country hit by the epidemic after New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and French Polynesia.
Vanuatu's Ministry of Health said that two children, both aged five from two separate communities in the capital of Port Vila, were found with the virus, the Pacnews reported.
The confirmation came from tests conducted in the World Health Organization (WHO) influenza reference laboratory in Melbourne after 65 samples were sent there.
"These two children were brought to the hospital with mild flu-like symptoms three weeks ago to the Vila Central Hospital and throat swab samples were collected," it said.
"They have now totally recovered. No serious cases of sick people have been found in their families or in nearby communities," said the statement.
Fiji's Ministry of Health has confirmed three more new cases ofA/H1N1, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to five on Thursday.
The three new cases were being treated at their respective homes and are all stable.
Two women and a man were confirmed in Suva, Lautoka and Nadi. Two of the three new cases have a history of recent travel, the Ministry of Health said.
The National Testing Facilities at Mataika House in Tamavua has to date received 116 specimens from sentinel sites in Suva, Lautoka, Nadi and Labasa.
Australian Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced the country had 3,199 officially confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu as of Thursday afternoon.
In an update to reporters, Roxon said 168 of those people had been hospitalized, with 36 still in hospital and 13 in intensive care.
Three Australians have died from A/H1N1 flu - one in South Australia and two in Victoria.
Brunei has confirmed four more new cases of A/H1N1 flu, bringing the total cases to 11.
According to Brunei newspapers on Thursday, the four cases, confirmed on Wednesday, included two local transmitted patients, a six-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl.
While the other two imported cases involved a 23-year-old woman who visited Kuala Lumpur, and a nine-year-old girl who returned to Brunei from Johor, a southern state in Malaysia.
The Brunei Health Ministry urged people who returned to Brunei from the affected areas to practise self-quarantine and reduce social activities for minimum seven days. Vietnam's Ministry of Health confirmed seven more A/H1N1 flu cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 63, local newspaper the New Hanoi reported Thursday.
The seven newly-confirmed cases include five in Ho Chi Minh City and two in Hanoi, said the ministry.
In Hanoi, the patients are two students coming back from Australia on June 18, said the newspaper. They are admitted to the Hanoi-based National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases after having symptoms of fever and headache.
Bangladesh on Thursday reported the country's first domestic transmission of flu A/H1N1 in Dhaka, taking the country's total cases to eight, a senior official said.
The new patient, a 17-year-old Bangladeshi man, was believed to be infected by his friend, an 18-year-old Bangladeshi man, who returned from the United States on June 14 and was confirmed to be the country's first A/H1N1 flu patient on June 18.
Mahmudur Rahman, head of the country's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research under the Health Ministry, told Xinhua on Thursday the patient is now at his home in Dhaka under appropriate treatment.
The Philippine health authorities confirmed 123 more Influenza A/H1N1 cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 727 in the country.
The newly-found cases, all mild in nature, involved 120 Filipinos and three foreigners, Health Secretary Francisco Duque told reporters. Twenty-one of the patients had a history of travel to a country affected with the novel virus.
Meanwhile, the health chief reported that 85 more A/H1N1 patients have fully recovered. This new number brought the total count of fully-recovered cases to 536 or 74 percent of the total sum of confirmed cases since May 21.
However, he advised "high-risk groups" to take the disease seriously.
"We want to make it clear that high-risk groups, once they have the flu symptoms, should immediately go to their doctor," Duque said, referring to patients with uncontrolled diabetes and asthma, those with chronic liver and kidney disease, the people suffering from HIV/AIDs and TB, and pregnant women and the very young and the elderly.
Thailand's Public Health Ministry announced Thursday 69 more people are confirmed to have caught the A/H1N1 flu virus, bringing the country's total number to 1,054.
Of the total, some 1,037 patients have already recovered, while the remaining 17 are still in hospitals, said Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodi, the Thai language news agency INN reported.
The Jakarta Health Agency is intensifying efforts to keep pigpens clean following the city's first confirmed case of Influenza A/H1N1, a senior official at the agency said Thursday.
Dien Emmawati, head of The Jakarta Health Agency said that the agency has asked Jakarta's Fisheries, Farming and Food Agency to increase the control of pig slaughter houses and farms across the country's capital city.
"Pig farms should be sprayed with disinfectant continuously," the Antara news agency quoted Dien as saying.
The steps to control the widespread of A/H1N1 virus came up after the finding of the virus in a 37-year-old pilot who is now being treated at the Sulianti Saroso Hospital for Infectious Diseases in North Jakarta.
Cambodia has three more confirmed cases of A/H1N1 virus, bringing the total of the country's infections to four, the Cambodian health officials said on Thursday.
Cambodia's first four cases of the new influenza A/H1N1 virus have been confirmed by the Cambodian National Influenza Center (NIC). The first positive result was confirmed on Tuesday and three more late Wednesday evening, Health Minister Mam Bun Heng announced at the joint press conference held by the ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO).
All the infected people are U.S. citizens and part of a student group which arrived in Phnom Penh last Friday.
The Malaysian Health Ministry reported on Thursday that 11 more cases of flu A/H1N1 have been confirmed, raising the total cases in Malaysia to 91.
Malaysian Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the latest 11 cases include eight imported cases and three locally transmitted ones.
The imported cases were from Phuket in Thailand, Cyprus, Ireland, the Philippines and Australia.
A 19-month-old baby and two other kids aged at 6 and 9 years were among the new patients on Thursday.
Singapore confirmed staggering 95 new cases of Influenza A/H1N1on Thursday, bringing the number of total confirmed cases to 315.
According to Singapore's Health Ministry, 47 of the new cases have been investigated and they comprised 25 local infections and 22 imported ones. The remaining 48 new cases are still being investigated.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong Department of Health said 62 new cases of A/H1N1 influenza have been confirmed in the past 24 hours up to 2:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) Thursday.
This brings the region's tally to 506, the spokesman said.
The new cases involve 44 males and 18 females, aged between one and 58 years old, said the spokesman.
One new case of Influenza A/H1N1 was confirmed here on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Macao to 13.
The newly confirmed case was imported, concerning a 39-year-oldPhilippine woman who works at a local casino, according to Macao's Health Bureau (SSM). The patient has been to the Philippines between June 21 and 23, and she had contact with a patient infected with the virus.
So far, all but one of Macao's 13 confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 were imported. Local health authorities have raised the pandemic alert to the highest level 6.
On Thursday, 42 more cases of A/H1N1 virus were reported on theChinese mainland, making the total number of infections to 570.
