Forty-six more people were put under medical close watch after developing symptoms similar to bird flu illness, Public Health Minister Pinij Charusombat said on Sunday.

The 46 people were detected in 16 provinces during Saturday dawn to Sunday dawn, Pinij said.

Apart of the 46, 96 other people are awaiting lab results on whether their illness had caused by the fatal bird-flu virus.

Thailand is now fighting a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus which was confirmed in several provinces across the country.

The latest outbreak killed a 27-year-old man of the northern province of Uthai Thani early August, the country's 16th victim, following another fatality a week earlier in Phichit, prompting officials to conduct a large-scale culling of infected chickens.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2006)