Empty chairs are pictured in a classroom of Alexander-von-Humboldt high school in Berlin Monday.

Three of the nine new influenza A (H1N1) cases confirmed Monday were locally transmitted, raising the country’s tally to 235, the Ministry of Health said.

Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the Bureau for Preventive Health and Environment under the Health Ministry, said a community outbreak is confirmed only when new patients contract the disease from unspecified sources, and spread it to others.

All five patients detected Monday in Ho Chi Minh City had arrived from other countries, including four foreigners and a local, the municipal health department said.

The city’s health authorities also reported 26 passengers arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport Monday with flu-like symptoms. They were quarantined at Pham Ngoc Thach and District 7 hospitals.

Two positive cases found in Da Nang City, both 23, were friends who had contact with a flu patient confirmed to have the illness on June 30.

In Tra Vinh Province in the Mekong Delta, one of the two patients who tested positive for the disease was an Australian who had shared flight VN782 from Australia to HCMC on June 29 with two H1N1 patients in the province. The other case was a local who had direct contact with the Australian.

Another unspecified patient was reported in the north.

Ly Ngoc Kinh, head of the Bureau for Examination and Treatment Management, said all quarantined cases were stable. All patients countrywide had reacted well to the treatment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said H1N1 flu has infected 94,512 people worldwide and been blamed for 429 deaths since it was first detected in April, AFP reported.

The A (H1N1) virus has now spread to 136 countries and territories, the WHO said in its latest update, which shows 4,591 new cases and 47 more deaths since the last numbers released on Friday.

Argentina reported 34 more deaths – the largest increase among all countries – bringing its death toll to 60.

It now has the third-highest death toll, behind the US with 170 and Mexico at 119.

Some affected countries no longer keep track of all cases according to the UN health agency, while others do not report for each of the thrice-weekly bulletins.

Australia is the worst-affected country in the Asia-Pacific region with 5,298 cases, followed by Thailand, with 2,076, where the number has gone up by 662 cases since the last report.

Britain remains the worst hit in Europe with 7,447 cases.

Source: TN, VNA