Fourteen additional A/H1N1 flu cases have been diagnosed in Israel, local news service Ynet reported on Tuesday.

The latest cases have brought the total number of confirmed cases of the globally spreading disease to 131 in the Jewish state since April.

When the disease first broke out here, nearly all patients come from the United States or Mexico, but in the following weeks many patients were infected in Israel, said the report.

Israeli Health Ministry estimated that about one-third of the infection cases took place in Israel.

In order to ease the burden on local hospitals and considering that the disease is not a severe one, patients infected with the virus would be treated with Tamiflu and stay at home, instead of being forced to stay in hospital for isolation.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the A/H1N1 alert to phase six, its highest level, formally declaring that it had developed into a global pandemic.

The number of confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu in the world has reached 35,928, including 163 deaths, according to a latest update of the WHO.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2009)