A/H1N1 flu keeps on spreading in Asia

HONG KONG, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The A/H1N1 flu is still spreading in Asia Pacific region though the World Health Organization (WHO) has stopped tracking A/H1N1 cases.

Japan's tally of A/H1N1 infections has exceeded 4,000, said the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Sunday.

According to the ministry, there have been no serious cases reported since the first infections in Japan were confirmed in May.

On May 9, three Osaka males were confirmed to be infected with the new A/H1N1 flu and they became the first confirmed cases of the new strain of influenza in Japan. And the number of the new-flu infections has been on the rise ever since.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that it would stop tracking A/H1N1 cases as the pandemic was the fastest growing ever and it was pointless to count each case.

But the WHO called on countries to continue to report clusters of severe cases or deaths caused by the new virus or unusual clinical patterns.

In Myanmar, the second flu-infected patient has been discharged from hospital after receiving intensive medical care, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday.

Myanmar reported the first case of new flu A/H1N1 in the country on June 27 with a 13-year-old girl who developed the symptoms after coming back home from Singapore a day earlier.

So far, the authorities have given medical check up to over 2 million people at airports, ports and border check points and examined those suspicious of the deadly disease since the outbreak in Mexico on April 28, it said.

Of the 49 people who underwent laboratory test, four were found infected with A/H1N1 virus, it claimed, saying that the four human flu cases are all imported ones.