Vietnam ’s health authorities on July 7 confirmed 13 more cases of A/H1N1 influenza infection, bringing the country’s tally to 248 with no deaths being reported so far.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has been doing its utmost to work with relevant agencies at all levels to keep a close watch on the latest developments of the flu in order to promptly implement concerted measures against a possible outbreak into a pandemic, said Nguyen Huy Nga, Director of the MoH’s Department of Preventive Medicine and Environment.

Nearly 40 days after the first infection case was reported, the national flu monitoring system that works in 15 different localities in Vietnam has not found any cases of human transmission of the lethal flu.

At present, more than 60 percent of the infected people (or 152 cases) have been released from hospital, while the remaining patients are being kept in isolation and are in stable condition, said authorities.

As of July 7, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported 94,512 confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 infection from 135 countries and territories, of which 429 were fatal.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Brunei have each reported one death from the flu, while Thailand has confirmed nine fatalities./.