The Massachusetts health department on Tuesday announced that the number of confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases in the state has topped 1,000, while three more Boston schools will be closed for one week because of the outbreak.

The department said in a news release that 223 new cases have been confirmed during the past four days, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 1,010. Officials said only 73 patients have been hospitalized due to symptoms, but there have been no deaths in the state.

On Friday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on its website that the state of Massachusetts had 787 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu.

Suffolk and Middlesex are the two hardest-hit counties, which had 416 and 318 confirmed cases respectively.

Also on Tuesday, Boston School Superintendent Carol Johnson said three more schools -- the William E. Russell Elementary School in Dorchester, the Charles Sumner Elementary School in Roslindale and the Maurice J. Tobin School in Roxbury -- will be close for seven days because of a high number of flu cases.

Previously, ten schools had been forced to close for one-week periods in Boston area.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2009)