A 64-year-old "balikbayan" has been taken for quarantine in Iloilo City for showing symptoms of influenza A(H1N1) virus infection.

The Department of Health (DOH) office in Iloilo City said the balikbayan has been confined at the Western Visayas Medical Center.

The regional health office said the lady balikbayan from California was healthy when she arrived in Aklan on May 16.  The woman became ill and experienced high fever, abdonimal pain, and vomiting days after her arrival.

The health office said the woman's daughter, who is a doctor of medicine, reported her mother's condition and brought her mother to hospital.

The result of her swab sample test will be released on Thursday, the health office said.

The DOH on Tuesday announced that it has taken three more people for quarantine after exhibiting symptoms of the influenza A(H1N1) virus.

DOH Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said two new patients were confined in a private hospital, and the other one was brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Manila.

Villaverde said a total of 68 people have been quarantined due to the H1N1 virus.

DOH epidemiology chief Dr. Eric Tayag, meanwhile, said that the Philippines remained free of the deadly influenza. He also announced that the test conducted on an 11-month-old Japanese baby has turned out negative.

Tayag said the baby's influenza test result came out Monday night. The baby has been taken home by the parents, he added.

The DOH said the influenza patients had history of travel from countries with confirmed influenza A (H1N1) cases. Among the countries of origin of the patients are Australia, Canada, China (Mainland), Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Nearly 10,000 cases

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged people to remain vigilant against swine flu as the number of cases around the world shot up to almost 10,000.

Previous pandemics had shown flu outbreaks could start mild and worsen, Ban said as he addressed the World Health Organisation's annual assembly in Geneva. "That is why the world must remain vigilant and alert to the warning signs."

The UN health agency said cases had soared by more than 1,000 since Monday with 9,830 infections now in 40 countries, including 79 deaths.

The WHO has so far resisted pressure to declare a full-fledged swine flu pandemic, but anxiety about the spread of the virus -- especially in Asia and the Americas -- is growing.

Japan reported 193 swine flu infections Tuesday and closed more than 4,000 schools, colleges and kindergartens for the rest of the week to slow the spread of the virus, officials said.

Ban held talks in Geneva with leaders of some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies on the development of a vaccine.

About 30 vaccine makers from 19 industralized and developing countries were invited by the WHO to the discussions, which officials said focused on the cost of the vaccine and its availability in the most vulnerable poor countries.

Ban told the WHO's assembly afterwards that partnerships with the private sector would be "absolutely vital".

"Solidarity in the face of this particular outbreak must mean that all have access to drugs and vaccines," he told the group's 193 member states. "It means that virus samples and data are shared."