27 patients tested positive for H1N1 this year

A total of 27 patients have tested positive for H1N1 but the strain is not uncommon, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said Monday.

This figure includes both Maldivian and foreign individuals.

The agency released this figure at a press conference, reportedly held in response to misinformation over its earlier statement, where the HPA’s panel of speakers also said that patients only need testing at the request of a doctor.

“We released a notice about an increase in influenza, but this was information was spread on social media with a lot of panic” the HPA said at the conference “This is not an alarming situation, and we are treating each patient with great care”.

The HPA further said that only 16 patients tested positive for the strain between 2015 and 2016, and the statement was released in response to this sudden rise in cases. The agency also said that a child is in treatment for the flu at the ADK Hospital's Intensive Care Unit, and asked the press to give the patient due privacy.

However, doctors will not be treating patients for influenza but for other infections it may induse in the elderly or those with existing respiratory conditions, which have been aggravated because of the strain.

The HPA, having said that closing schools to quell spreading would be unproductive, said that its currently working with authorities in the atolls to tackle the flu.

The agency had declared an increase in respiratory infections in an urgent notice, highlighting that its routine tests have recently resulted in H1N1 positive cases. stressing that it was not ‘similar to the 2009 swine flu pandemic’.

The 2009 global pandemic resulted in six local positive cases - four Maldivians and two foreign individuals – and the death of a 65-year-old man within 10 days.

Read More: HPA notes H1N1 prevalence no cause for concern