Influenza A/H1N1 continues to threaten Asia-Pacific region

Hong Kong, Influenza A/H1N1 has continued to threaten the people in Asia and Pacific region as more than 200new flu cases were confirmed on Sunday in the region.

Singapore's Health Minister said on Monday that 53 percent of the new flu cases are A/H1N1 positive.

The number spiked from 13 percent in a span of just four weeks, according to Singapore's Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who was quoted by local TV broadcaster Channel News Asia in his update in Parliament.

He also warned that A/H1N1 flu prevalence in Singapore should peak within a week or two, adding that more Singaporeans will get infected, reaching a peak before the numbers start to decline.

He explained Singapore remains in yellow alert because unlike seasonal flu, the at-risk groups involve younger adults with underlying medical problems.

According to Philippine's TV network GMA News reported on Monday, more than 100 inmates in two Philippine jails were quarantined for suspected A/H1N1 influenza, raising fears that an outbreak might occur among the confined population.

Over 60 inmates have developed flu-like symptoms in the central Philippines' Mandaue city jail, where 100 inmates were placed under observation.

In northern Bulacan provincial jail, ten inmates were quarantined after showing sings of A/H1N1 influenza, the report said.

The suspected outbreak has prompted jail officials to shorten families' visit hours and to conduct thermal scanning on visitors before they enter the jail.

The Philippines is among the worst-hit by the A/H1N1 influenza in Southeast Asia as the authorities confirmed 2,688 cases by July9, with four deaths.

On the same day, Vietnamese Ministry of Health confirmed 45 more influenza A/H1N1 cases, bringing the country's tally to 383.

All the newly confirmed cases are in the southern provinces, said the ministry.

So far, 299 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. The rest are being quarantined and treated in stable conditions.

China's Hong Kong confirmed 76 new cases of A/H1N1 flu infection in the 24 hours up to 2.30 p.m. on Monday, medical authorities said.

According to a spokesman of the Center for Health Protection, the new cases involve 36 males and 40 females, aged between one and 81.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 1,886 in Hong Kong, the spokesman said.

The city's Hospital Authority said in a release later in the day that currently a total of 41 confirmed patients are staying in public hospitals for treatment and five of them are in critical condition.

Meanwhile, the neighboring Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) said that six newly cases of Influenza A/H1N1 were confirmed, bringing the total number of such cases to 127 so far.

The newly confirmed cases included three men and three women whose ages ranged from eight to 42, according to SAR's Health Bureau.

The Indonesian Health Ministry announced 15 new positive A/H1N1cases on Monday. Of the 15 patients, five were male and ten were female.

"Five of them have a history to go overseas, one to Malaysia, two to the United States, and another two to Singapore," said Prof. Tjandra Yoga Aditama, a disease control official of the ministry.

By now, the cumulative cases of positive influenza A/H1N1 in Indonesia amounted to 172, involving 86 men and 86 women.

Malaysian Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that 862 out of the total patients of the disease had recovered, seven were still under treatment in hospitals, while five of them were receiving out-patient treatment.

Liow said the total cases of the flu comprising 567 imports and307 local transmissions.

He said his ministry would continue in monitoring cases of the disease being brought to the hospitals, including cases of cluster "influenza-likeness illness".

Owing to a sharp rise in the number of influenza A/H1N1 cases in the world and the region recently, Cambodia government on Monday called on its citizens to avoid traveling to its neighboring country of Thailand.

The Cambodian Health Ministry made the call in order to prevent the large scale outbreak of A/H1N1 flu in the country.

"Without the need for the time being, Cambodian citizens should avoid traveling to Thailand in order to prevent the wide-spreading of the epidemic in Cambodia," the Health Ministry's statement said.

According to local media reported that as of July 19, Thailand had found at least 4,000 cases of confirmed influenza A/H1N1, while 24 people died of the flu.

Cambodia now has a total of 14 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu, but most of them were imported and no one died of the virus so far in the country.