MANILA - The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday announced that 15 more Filipinos have been infected with the influenza A(H1N1) virus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Philippines to 92.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the 15 cases are "all mild in nature." Four of them travelled to Japan, Singapore, Mexico, and the United States.

Duque said "contact tracing of said new cases is on-going."

He said 32 of the 92 infected patients have fully recovered from the virus and have been sent home.

The DOH, meanwhile, said classes at the Helera Elementary School in Jaen town in Nueva Ecija province have been suspended due to a confirmed A(H1N1) case in the school. It said the voluntary class suspension started Thursday.

The health department said students and faculty members who came into contact with the infected pupil are being traced and will be asked to self-quarantine.

Meanwhile, ABS-CBN News gathered that classes at the Doña Candelaria Meneses Duque High School in Bulacan town, Bulacan province have also been suspended after several students exhibited flu-like symptoms.

The flu-like illness started from one section of the school's second year level. The illness reportedly spread to other year levels, prompting the school's management to call the DOH's attention.

Throat swab samples taken from the students have been brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine office in Alabang, Muntinlupa City. The entire school has been "disinfected."

Bacolod's first case

Meanwhile, ABS-CBN Negros reported that a 17-year-old female De La Salle University (DLSU) student is Bacolod City's first confirmed A(H1N1) case.

Dr. Ariel Valencia, DOH regional director, said the female DLSU student has been confined and is undergoing treatment at Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.

Valencia said the female student became sick after coming home from Manila.

The DLSU-Taft has suspended its classes due to the spread of the new influenza virus in its campus. The DLSU-College of Saint Benilde also has confirmed A(H1N1) cases.

Shift to mitigation

Duque, meanwhile, said that the Task Force on Pandemic Preparedness and Response, with representatives from various government agencies, met on Thurday to discuss the government's plan of shifting the management of A(H1N1) from containment to mitigation.

“With mitigation, the government will be recommending to affected areas with community level transmission to now focus on taking care of the sick, providing guidance for people to protect themselves and their families, and monitoring the outbreak. To date, we stress that we still do not have community-level transmission that is why we are still in the containment stage”, Duque said.

Duque said that during mitigation, the government will work closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) to exchange information about the virus in this country, help understand how the pandemic is evolving and follow developments in scientific and clinical issues.

Duque said that in the event of a pandemic alert 6, the WHO is recommending the following: 1) No border closure as it will not be possible to stop it at said points of entry; 2) No restriction of travel as people who are infected may not show symptoms so they cannot be identified from others who are not infected; 3) Greater emphasis on providing care with a decreased emphasis on stopping the spread of the virus.

As of June 10, the WHO said there were already 27,737 confirmed cases and 141 deaths from 74 reporting countries. The latest country to report A(H1N1) is Ukraine.