Eight more deaths relating to Influenza A (H1N1) were confirmed today, bringing the death toll to 26 in the country.

NONE Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said seven deaths were from the

high-risk group and that some were post-reported due to post-mortem to study and confirm the cause of deaths.

"The latest eight deaths happened between Aug 3 and Aug 8 but we could only confirm that they died of influenza A after getting post-mortem results," Liow told New Straits Times .

According to Bernama , he said that a death occured on Aug 3, followed by two more (Aug 5), four (Aug 6) and another (Aug 8).

Liow disclosed that two of the cases were from Sabah.

He said the first involved an obese 24-year-old woman who was warded at the Ranau Hospital on Aug 1, with fever and cough for four days.

She was later referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) here on Aug 5 and died on the same day.

The other case involved a 74-year-old man with chronic heart disease, who was admitted to QEH on Aug 3, with a history of month-long difficult breathing and fever for just one day.

He died on Aug 6.

62 cases treated in hospitals

Other cases include a 20-year-old female student treated as outpatient for Influenza Like Illness (ILI) on Aug 1 and found dead in a hostel room, five days later, a 48-year-old man with asthmatic and hypertensive history from Sarawak, and a 37-year-old obese man from Johor.

h1n1 flu malaysia school children students wearing mask 260609 01 Liow said at present, there were 62 cases in total, receiving treatment in hospitals and another 13 at intensive care units (ICU), while an additional five suspected H1N1 cases were also at ICU waiting for results.

"So far in Sabah, confirmed cases of H1N1 are 402 cases, two deaths, seven currently in hospitals where one is in ICU, and seven more ILI cases, pending confirmation," he said, adding that there were children involved but he did not have details.

Liow said 35 schools had been closed in Sabah due to the H1N1 outbreak.

Malaysia has seen a surge in cases of A(H1N1) over the past few weeks, and Prime Minister Najib Razak has urged the public to refrain from attending mass gatherings unless necessary.

Health authorities said they are monitoring the situation to decide whether to proceed with Merdeka celebrations end of this month, which some 47,000 people are expected to attend, according to state news agency Bernama .

On Thursday, the health minister warned that haze from forest fires that was shrouding parts of Malaysia would worsen the swine flu situation by causing more respiratory illnesses.

The haze reached "unhealthy" levels in six locations in Malaysia on Wednesday but air quality had improved somewhat in the Peninsular but gotten worse in Sarawak on Sunday.

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