The Colombian government said on Wednesday that three new cases of A/H1N1 flu have been found, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 53, including one death.

All the patients were from the capital Bogota, according to a Social Protection Ministry report.

Two of the patients were female adults, who developed symptoms like fever, cough, and headache on June 6 and June 7, respectively.

The third patient was a young girl, daughter of the woman who died of the virus on June 5.

Colombia tightened control at hospitals and health centers after the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the level of influenza pandemic alert to the highest phase 6.

The official figure released on Wednesday showed that there were 347 possible A/H1N1 flu in Colombia, which reported the first confirmed A/H1N1 flu case in South America on May 3.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2009)