No new deaths from influenza A(H1N1) were recorded for the past one week and the total so far remains at 77, said Director-General of Health Dr Mohd Ismail Merican.

He said 45 new cases with influenza like illness (ILI) were warded in 92 hospitals nationwide while 140 were discharged, leaving the total at 761.

Laboratory tests confirmed that 14 percent or 103 of the patients were infected with H1N1, he said in a statement today.

He said 18 percent or 19 of the them were in the intensive care units (ICU) including two new cases while two patients were discharged today.

Mohd Ismail said the patients in the ICUs had risk factors --eight were children under five, obesity (four), chronic diseases (three) and chronic respiratory diseases (two).

16 killed in road accidents

On another matter, a Bukit Aman statement revealed that 16 deaths from road accidents were recorded yesterday, bringing the death toll to 238 since Ops Sikap 20 started two weeks ago.

The statement said 11 of the victims were motorcyclists while five others were motorists and passengers.

accidents 260906 car accident Of 1,021 accidents registered yesterday, 423 occurred on municipal roads followed by federal roads (295), state roads (184), highways (69) and other roads (50).

The police issued 9,664 summons to traffic offenders during the operation, it said the statement.

The operation, aimed at reducing the number of road accidents during Aidilfitri, ends today.

In another unrelated matter, the Department of Environment website reading showed that 36 areas in the country recorded good air quality this morning while 14 others had moderate readings.

Good air quality

No area registered any unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API), according to the website.

It said the areas with good API readings were Muar (47), Alor Star (29), Langkawi (19), Kota Baharu (36), Malacca (45) and Port Dickson (43).

Others were Jerantut (27), Ipoh (42), Tanjung Malim (36), Perai (38), Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang (22), Kota Kinabalu (38), Limbang (33) and Miri (48).

Among the areas with moderate API readings were Bintulu (61), Kapit (60), Kuching, (52), Samarahan (71), Sarikei (60), Sibu (77), Sri Aman (59), Kota Tinggi (71), Pasir Gudang (66), Balok Baru, Kuantan (58) and Taiping (52).

A reading of 0-50 indicates good air quality, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy), 201-300 (very unhealthy) and 300 and above (hazardous).

- Bernama