Singapore has confirmed two more cases of Influenza A/H1N1, bringing the total number of confirmed cases here to 49, the country's Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

One of the newly confirmed patient is a 56-year-old German man who works in Singapore and returned here from the United States on June 8, the other patient is a 26-year-old Indonesian man who works in Singapore and returned from Melbourne on June 14.

The ministry said that unlike the earlier imported cases, a number of the recent imported cases have involved extensive community activities such as working, shopping and participating in mass activities since their arrival here. Some have even traveled to Singapore despite that they were already unwell prior to departure.

The ministry warned that such behavior has considerably increased the difficulty of contact tracing and significantly heightened the risk of community spread here in Singapore.

Singapore reported its first confirmed case of influenza A/H1N1on May 27. So far, 22 patients have been discharged. The remaining27 patients are still in the hospital and their conditions remain stable.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2009)