Image via WikipediaBANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand announced Tuesday a 50 percent increase in swine flu cases and ordered a dozen schools to close for a week as confirmed infections mounted across the Asia-Pacific.
New Zealand reported 28 new cases, matching its biggest jump in cases in a single day. China reported 41 more cases while Hong Kong shuttered a high school as a precaution after a student caught the virus.
Efforts have been made across the region to contain the virus but health authorities have predicted that it will spread further. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic last week.
There have been no fatalities reported so far in Asia.
Thailand's Public Health Ministry on Tuesday confirmed 109 new cases, the largest jump in a single day since the country's first case was confirmed in May. Eighty-four of the new cases are students.
Thailand now has 310 confirmed cases.
Prat Boonyavongvirot, the ministry's permanent secretary, said most patients have made a full recovery while some are still being treated. None are in critical condition.
The Education Ministry has ordered the closure of 14 schools for a week to prevent the spread of the flu, he said, adding that the schools have undergone disinfecting in recent days.
In Hong Kong, authorities closed for two weeks the territory's second high school to be shuttered because of the flu.
Health officials have yet to determine how a 15-year-old student at the school contracted swine flu since she has not traveled overseas recently. She was one of 12 new infections in Hong Kong, bringing the total to 104.
China, which records cases on the mainland separately, is reporting 41 more, bringing its total to 226.
New Zealand reported 28 new cases, equaling its biggest jump in cases in a single day since swine flu was first confirmed in late April. It raised the country's total to 99.
The World Health Organization said that as of Monday, 76 countries have reported nearly 36,000 cases of the virus, with 163 deaths worldwide. Mexico and the United States have been hardest hit. - AP
From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.
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