MALAYSIA : Three New Influenza A (h1n1) Cases Reported
KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 (Bernama) -- Three new Influenza A (H1N1) cases were reported over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 874. Of the number, 89 per cent or 775 patients have fully recovered.
Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said the three new cases comprised two imported, and a locally transmitted involving an eight-year-old child who was treated at the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital in Muar, Johor.
"The child, who is a contact to a case in Johor, is currently in stable condition," he said in a statement here Sunday.
Meanwhile, he said the imported cases involved a Malaysian who returned from Italy on July 11, and a housewife who returned from a holiday in Bandung and Jakarta, the following day.
On Saturday, the duo, who are asthmatic, were tested positive for H1N1, also known as swine flu. They are currently receiving treatment at the Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan and Serdang Hospital in Selangor, respectively.
Dr Mohd Ismail said the health ministry was currently in the mitigation phase to control the pandemic where the infection surveillance was focused on the number of patients admitted to hospitals and the influenza-like illness (ILI) cluster infection in the community.
He said, according to the World Health Organisation, 133,635 confirmed cases and 760 deaths due to H1N1 were reported in 153 countries, as at 8am today.
This indicated an increase of 7,331 cases and 69 deaths as compared to yesterday, he said.
Among countries which reported an increase in the number of cases were the United States (2,877 cases), Mexico (1,680), Chile (435), Spain (275) and Hong Kong (196).
-- BERNAMA
