MANILA, 8 July 2009, 1600 hrs—The World Health Organization said it would ask countries hardest hit by Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 to move away from laboratory testing of individual cases and towards collecting broader data about the disease. Meanwhile, new infections in most parts of the Western Pacific Region lifted the caseload to beyond 15 000, as Australia reported another death linked to the virus.
Keiji Fukuda, interim assistant director-general of WHO, said updated surveillance advice would be issued to countries within days asking them to refocus from individual cases to larger trends, such as influenza-like illnesses or pneumonia cases.
He noted that, to date, some 137 countries and territories have reported over 98,000 cases including over 440 deaths. In the Western Pacific, Australia has the highest number of cases, followed by Japan and the Philippines. Most deaths linked to the virus in the Region have also occurred in Australia, which announced its 13th fatality after an 85-year-old woman with a chronic lung condition died in the state of Tasmania on 6 July.
"Because the number of cases has increased in so many countries, it is very hard to keep up and so we need to move towards these kinds of indicators to keep following on with the trend of the pandemic," said Fukuda, noting that a shift would also ease pressure on laboratories.
Countries would also be asked to test cases that appear to be unusual, in order for changes in epidemiology of the virus, Fukuda said. In countries where cases have yet to be reported, WHO would still recommend that individual suspect cases be tested.
Australia indentified 620 new cases to boost its total to beyond 6 000. Of the 116 people in hospital with the virus in Australia, 32 are in intensive care. Case numbers are rising too in New Zealand, which reported 77 new cases to take its total to 1272 – the Region’s fourth-highest. Of these, 53 are in hospital and 12 of them are in intensive care.
In Fiji, three extra cases were identified in Suva, Lautoka, and Nadi, two of them with a history of recent travel. Fiji’s National Influenza Task Force updated medical practitioners during meetings in Lautoka after the new cases were announced, and information sessions for the general public are being organized. Additional personal protective equipment for health personnel is being sourced with the assistance of donor agencies.
China announced 100 new cases, most of them on the Chinese mainland. Japan reported 88 new cases, while 22 were detected in Viet Nam, and 10 in Brunei Darussalam.
The total number of laboratory confirmed cases in the Western Pacific Region stood at 15 391, as of 8 July, with 18 deaths (in brackets besides the case numbers below) linked to the virus. A number of countries are now into a mitigation phase of their response to the disease and are no longer testing all suspected cases. Some countries are not reporting on a daily basis.
- Australia 6353 (13)
- Brunei Darussalam 164 (1)
- Cambodia 7
- China 1097
- Hong Kong (China) 1014
- Macao (China) 62
- Taiwan (China) 61
- Cook Islands 1
- Fiji 5
- Japan 1878
- Lao PDR 5
- Malaysia 112
- New Zealand 1272 (3)
- Palau 1
- Papua New Guinea 1
- Philippines 1709 (1)
- Republic of Korea 286
- Samoa 1
- Singapore 1111
Vanuatu 3
- Viet Nam 248
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