Eight people were tested positive for the A/H1N1 influenza virus in Hong Kong on Friday, bringing the number of confirmed cases of the disease in the city to 71, a spokesman for the Department of Health of Hong Kong said.

The Center for Health Protection has confirmed six imported and two local cases on Friday, involving five women and three men.

Center controller Thomas Tsang said the imported cases involved two girls aged 8 and 15, and a 21-year-old women who flew in from the Philippines, two men aged 26 and 46 from the United States, and a 49-year-old woman from Canada.

The two local cases involved family members of two St Paul's Convent School students who had been confirmed to have the virus. They include a 13-year-old sister and a 53-year-old father. All patients are stable and being treated in hospital.

On the World Health Organization's move to escalating the pandemic alert to level six, Tsang said Hong Kong has already prepared for the development, adding the city's strategy is moving from containment to mitigation phase.

The health authorities will place more emphasis on providing treatment to affected patients and will scale down some containment measures.

Expecting a rise in cases, the controller said the city's immediate challenge is the possible summer peak of seasonal flu, adding the center will monitor the situation.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2009)