A total of 17 new influenza cases have so far been reported in Myanmar, according to the Health Department Monday.

The 17th patient, a 40-year-old man, arrived at Myanmar's airport on Saturday, back from Malaysia. He was brought to a special hospital the same day after he was found ill.

He was confirmed by the National Health Laboratory to have been infected with flu A/H1N1 virus.

A total of 143 passengers on the flight and 131 airport staff members are under surveillance.

Of Myanmar's 17 flu patients so far, 10 have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital, the source said.

Myanmar reported the first case of flu A/H1N1 in the country on June 27 with a 13-year-old girl who developed the symptoms after coming back home from Singapore a day earlier.

So far, the authorities have given medical check up to over 2 million people at airports, ports and border check points and examined those suspicious of the disease since the outbreak in Mexico on April 28, it said.

The authorities continue to take preventive measures against the possible spread of the global human flu pandemic, advising all private clinics in the country to report or transfer all flu-suspected patients, who returned from abroad, to local state-run hospitals or health departments for increased surveillance.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2009)