KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian Health Ministry on Thursday reported seven more deaths of A/H1N1 flu, increasing the total number of deaths in the country to 51.

    Malaysian Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that the deaths aged between four month and 92 year-old and they were related to high risk factors, including hypertension, heart disease, congenital disease and low immunity.

    Meanwhile, Liow said that 51 patients of A/H1N1 flu were still being treated in the isolation wards, while 29 patients were being treated in intensive care unit (ICU).

    Among the ICU patients, Liow said that 16 patients have risk factors, including 12 patients with chronic disease, two patients of obesity, one pregnant patient and one post-delivery patient.

    In addition, Liow said that closing schools were no longer practical to prevent the infection because most patients were infected from the community.

    He said that unhealthy students would be separated from the school to be quarantined at home.

    He urged the public to be responsible to take precautions such as wear mask in controlling the epidemic.

    The Malaysian Health Ministry also reported 218 new cases of A/H1N1 flu on the day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 2,955.

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