DOH Update No. 45 - Duque: 15 More Recovered A (H1N1) Patients Sent Home Today

19 June 2009

Health  Secretary Francisco T. Duque III today reported that 15 more fully recovered A (H1N1) cases were already sent home. The total number of recovered cases is now 262 while the total count of positive cases remains at 344 (as reported yesterday). 

“All of these 344 confirmed cases were mild in nature, both those who are currently under treatment and those who have been sent home,” Duque said.

“Although it is true that for now the novel virus seemed to be causing only mild illness, we still should not be too complacent and let our guard down. We should continue to be vigilant as we, in the government, continue to monitor if there are any changes in its trends and patterns,” Duque stressed.

Duque also said that most of the 344 confirmed cases are from Metro Manila (National Capital Region) with 234 (68%), Central Luzon (Region III) with 45 (13%), and CALABARZON (Region IV-A) with 31 (9%).

Duque also noted that in the National Capital Region, most cases came from Quezon City (81 or 34%), Manila (44 or 18%), Parañaque (21 or 9%) and Makati (15 or 6%).

Duque said the age range of these cases is from 1 to 76 years old, with 18 as the median age. He also said that most of the cases belonged to the 15-24 years age group (171 or 50%).  He said that majority of cases were male (187 or 54.4%).

Duque disclosed that 305 (89%) of the reported confirmed cases are Filipinos.

“The rest are Japanese (6), American (4), Australia (1), China (1), India (1), Iran (1), Korea (1) and Sweden (1). The remaining 22 did not specify their nationality,” Duque said.

Duque also disclosed that 101 had history of travel to a country which had reported confirmed cases; most came from USA (48 or 14%), Japan (16 or 5%) and China (10 or 3%).

Meanwhile, as June 17, the World Health Organization reported 39,620 cases with 167 deaths from 88 reporting countries. Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, France French Polynesia, France Martinique, Jordan, Netherlands Curacao, Qatar, Samoa, Sri Lanka, UK Isle of Man, UK Jersey and Yemen are the new countries reporting with A (H1N1) cases.