Confirmed flu cases up to 66

FOUR new cases of the H1N1 flu, commonly known as ‘swine flu’, were confirmed yesterday, bringing the national total to 66 laboratory-confirmed cases.

Dr Jack Vries, chairperson of the National Health Emergency Management Committee (NHEMC), yesterday told The Namibian that three of the latest cases were reported at Grootfontein and one at Oshakati. The three Grootfontein patients are children aged 8, 9 and 12, while the Oshakati case is that of a young adult woman.Vries said 13 test results are still being awaited from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa.The majority of people who have tested positive for the flu have already recovered well. So far, there has been only H1N1-related death in Namibia, that of a man from Oshikango.The World Health Organisation is still monitoring the progress of the pandemic, although many countries have stopped counting individual cases.At last count, there had been more than 300 000 laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu in 191 countries.nangula@namibian.com.na