Flu cases continue to grow worldwide, WHO keeps alert

Source: Xinhua | 05-09-2009 12:38

BEIJING, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases continued to rise worldwide, especially in the United States, while the World Health Organization (WHO) has left its alert level unchanged.

According to the latest figures, over 3,000 cases have now been confirmed in 27 countries around the world.

The confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases in the United States rose sharply on Friday to 1,639 in 43 of its 50 states, including two deaths, overtaking Mexico as the country having the most confirmed cases in the world.

The update registered a sharp increase from the case count on Thursday when confirmed cases were 896, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, the jump "does not reflect a speed-up of the epidemic," said Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the CDC. The number of cases may jump quickly day to day as a backlog of likely cases need to be confirmed through extra testing, he said.

About 3.5 percent of the cases have been sick enough to be admitted to hospitals and health officials say the rate will continue to fall as more screening is done in the community.

U.S. President Barack Obama Friday urged Americans to take persistent precaution on the A/H1N1 flu, even though he said the virus was not as virulent as people first feared.