The worst of the outbreak of A/H1N1 flu virus appears to be over in the US state of California, including the Los Angeles County, a local newspaper quoted health officials as saying on Wednesday.

"Generally, it does seem to be tapering off in California, although all over the world and in the United States, the number of cases seems to be increasing," Bonnie Sorensen, chief deputy director of policy and programs for the California Department of Public Health, told the Los Angeles Times.

It will be at least another month, though, before state health officials can be sure if the downward trend will continue, she said.

In April, California reported the first cases of the new flu in the country.

In the state, there had been 445 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu and 227 probable cases as of last Thursday, according to the latest data. Forty-three of the confirmed cases are in the Los Angeles County.

By contrast, New York City has seen 330 of the state's 462 confirmed cases. New York City on Tuesday announced two more flu-related deaths, bringing the state's overall death toll in the outbreak to four.

"Compared to what's going on in Queens (New York City), for example, we've had a very limited number of cases," Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County's director of public health, told the paper.

"It's clear that there is a lot more transmission going on in that part of New York City than we have seen in Los Angeles County or on the West Coast in general," Fielding said.

"Is it because people there use mass transit? Is it because the architecture of schools is much different? I don't think we know the answers. All we have at this point is hypothesis, but there's no evidence that the virus in New York is different than the virus here," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2009)