The Health Ministry has decided to cut down its press statements of the Influenza A (H1N1) situation in the country based on the current trend which shows a drop in the number of cases.

From tomorrow, the ministry will only be issuing a weekly status report on the flu and not on daily basis.

NONE Health Director-General Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said the statement from the ministry on H1N1 would be issued every Wednesday.

On the current H1N1 situation, Mohd Ismail said 102 new patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) were hospitalised for treatment today, while the number of discharge cases was 126. He said there was also no new admission to the ICU today

"The current number of ILI cases still under treatment nationwide is 580 at 76 hospitals, including three private hospitals," he added.

He added that from the total ILI patients being treated, only 23 of them (four percent) were Influenza A cases confirmed through laboratory tests, with five of them (22 percent) in the intensive care unit (ICU).

All the five cases in the ICU had risk factors, including two children under five years of age, he added. The death toll due to Influenza A (H1N1) remain at 77.

Waiting for WHO report

Globally, Mohd Ismail said the H1N1 situation in the countries in the northern hemisphere, like North America, Canada, West Europe and East Asia, was still active and showed an increasing trend.

Meanwhile in Kota Kinabalu, Deputy Health Minister Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said the ministry was still waiting for an announcement from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the status of the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic in Malaysia.

Rosnah said the report by WHO would determine whether Influenza A (H1N1) was still a threat in Malaysia.

Although there had been no report due to H1N1 in the country since a month ago, the ministry would continue with measures to prevent the spread of the virus, she said.

- Bernama