A H1N1 patient under treatment at the Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital

The Health Ministry Saturday confirmed 157 more influenza A (H1N1) cases, mostly in the south, raising the country’s total to 2,569.

Officials said they quarantined all Giai Viet Thanh’s 44 employees for monitoring and sterilized the site.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau Education College in the southern province of the same name reported its first case of swine flu on Saturday.

Of the national tally, 1,269 people are being treated and two others have died.

Swine flu spreads four times faster than other viruses and 40 percent of the fatalities are young adults in good health, World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan told France’s Le Monde daily in an interview appearing Saturday.

“This virus travels at an unbelievable, almost unheard of speed,” he said.

“In six weeks it travels the same distance that other viruses take six months to cover,” Chan said.

Source: Thanh Nien, VNA, AFP