MALE: Ministry of Health has yesterday confirmed that four more people have been tested positive for Influenza A in Maldives. From these cases, one was a man of 27 years old tested positive in Meemu Atoll Muli while the rest of the three cases were from Raa Atoll Inguraidhoo. From Inguraidhoo, a two month old baby, 1 year old and a 29 year old woman were tested positive. The last two cases of Influenza A came out from Inguradhoo where a 4 year old boy was tested positive on Thursday and a 65 year old man was tested positive on Wednesday of last week.

The samples of the new four cases has now been brought to Male’ to test for swine flu. If these people are tested positive for swine flu, then as is the regulation, people who were in contact with these four people will also be searched and tested for the same.

The Health Ministry for the past 4 days has been saying that this is a sign that swine flu is beginning to spread in Maldives but stressed that is no outbreak of the disease in the country.

With the sudden rise of cases of Influenza A in Maldives, the ministry has held meetings with ministerial committee, inter sectoral and health committee for discussion and deliberation about this issue. The decisions made at this meeting have been shared with senior officials in the health centers of the country. The protocol and guideline to deal with swine flu has now been revised and the most recent information about the disease has been given to officers in charge in all the regional hospitals and atoll hospitals.

The ministry will be getting additional medical supplies that will be used for screening and treating the disease. It is expected that the medical supplies for treating swine flu will reach Maldives sometime this week.