Ten more people in the south, all overseas Vietnamese, tested positive for the influenza A (H1N1) virus Sunday, pushing the nationwide total to 45.

The department has ordered the city’s Preventive Health Center as well as district offices to closely monitor the neighborhoods of patients, and observe those that have had physical contact with them.

Also on Sunday, 23 passengers at the city’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport were detected with high body temperatures and were sent to Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital for observation.

Officials at the airport have been finding more passengers with high temperatures recently – 30 to 40 cases a day, which is three times last week’s numbers.

As of 4 p.m. Sunday, HCMC had reported 36 cases of the virus, also known as swine flu, since the first one was detected on May 31.

The Ministry of Health on Saturday reported three more cases, including a 37-year-old woman, a nine-year-old and a 21-year-old expatriate student all coming home from abroad. The first two were detected in HCMC and the student in Hanoi.

The ministry had on Friday confirmed six positive cases for the flu, all arrivals at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport from Australia and the US.

Influenza A (H1N1) has infected more than 44,000 people around the world in 95 countries and territories, causing 180 deaths since late March, AFP reported Sunday citing the latest World Health Organization data.

Source: VNA