China is "very likely" to have its first death from the A/H1N1 influenza in the foreseeable future, as the number of the flu cases rises in the country, a health ministry official said Monday.

"The number of imported cases of the A/H1N1 flu is expected to continue to increase in the near future, and more local people will be infected by the virus," Liang Wannian, vice director of the emergency office under the Health Ministry, said at a press conference.

As the total number of infected people increases, the chances of medical workers and high-risk groups, such as pregnant women and people with chronic diseases, being infected will rise, making serious cases of the A/H1N1 flu or even fatalities "extremely possible," he said.

According to Liang, a collective occurrence of the disease or a regional outbreak of the influenza was "inevitable at this point."

"The possibility of a wide spread of the virus in China in autumn and winter is also becoming more likely," he said, adding that the virus was spreading at much higher speed than when it first entered China.

The Chinese mainland reported a total of 729 A/H1N1 flu cases as of 6 p.m. on June 28, with no serious cases or fatalities so far. Among the infected, 401 people had recovered.

Most the of the country's A/H1N1 cases were "imported" cases from other countries, according to Liang. The virus, which infects mainly people under 30 in China, had not shown obvious mutation yet.

The Ministry of Health would focus on schools and local communities to contain the virus, and may adjust its strategies in accordance with the patterns of the disease in the country, Liang said.

He also said China would stock more than 13 million A/H1N1 influenza vaccines by the end of September this year as its national reserve, but added that these vaccines would not be on sale on the market.

(Xinhua News Agency June 29, 2009)