TOKYO (AFP) - The number of worldwide swine flu infections surged past 10,000 on Wednesday, as the epidemic gathered pace in the United States and the first case was recorded in Tokyo.

The announcement in the Japanese capital that a 16-year-old high school girl had caught (A) H1N1 on a trip to New York underlined the scale of the challenge to contain the virus which has now been recorded in 41 countries.
The Health Ministry said that the number of A (H1N1) virus infections in Japan rose to 251, excluding the Tokyo case, as of late yesterday.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases now stands at 10,243, said a spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation. The number of dead at 80,spokeswoman Fadela Chaib added.

“There is an increase of 413 cases in the past 24 hours, with most in the United States with 346 new cases and in Japan there are 51 new cases,” Chaib told journalists.

The increase in the US raised the total there to 5,469 cases in 47 states plus Washington’s District of Columbia.

The number of confirmed A (H1N1) infections in Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak, rose by almost 100 in 24 hous to 3,660, health auhorities said as they also announced four new deaths. Local officials say 76 people have died in Mexico, although not all of these deaths have been registered by the WHO.

And as dozens more cases were reported in Japan, Taiwan became the latest Asian government to record a case of the virus on its soil - in an Australian doctor who arrived by plane from Hong Kong earlier in the week.

Australia itself reported four new cases, including three young brothers, raising the overall number of confirmed infections to five.

Victoria state health authorities quarantined the family, along with some of the boys’ classmates.

Meanwhile, Egyptian health minister Hatem al-Gabali warned of the dangers posed by the flu to millions of Muslim pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia.

Gabali told the independent daily Al-Masri Al-Yom that “there is a large possibility” the A (H1N1) virus may reach Egypt with returning pilgrims.

AFP

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