A total of 10 Australians had been hospitalized with A/H1N1 flu as three patients with the virus were placed in intensive care, according to Australian Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon.

There were 1,762 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu in Australia at noon on Monday, which Roxon said accounted for six percent of the world's total number of diagnose.

While a small number of people had been hospitalized after contracting the virus, Roxon said they generally had other conditions making them vulnerable to complications.

"The hospitalized have generally been those people with existing conditions or complications such as morbid obesity and respiratory conditions," she told the parliament.

The World Health Organization (WHO) last week maximized its global A/H1N1 flu alert level, saying the virus had become a pandemic.

Australia's alert level remains at contain, but Victoria, which has the bulk of cases, is in a modified, higher sustained phase.

Roxon said the Australian health authorities were closely watching the increased spread of A/H1N1 flu among people who had no known contact with other confirmed cases.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2009)