Malaysia reported eight new confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of the cases to 50 in the country.

Malaysian Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Saturday that the latest eight cases included two pupils in a primary school here called Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (SRJK) Cina Jalan Davidson.

Liow confirmed one of the pupils was affected by the virus Saturday morning and another on Saturday afternoon, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the school to three.

Both of them were locally transmitted when their classmate who returned from a holiday in Melbourne, Australia, was confirmed as the first case of such in the school on Friday.

The Malaysian National Security Council had agreed to close down the school temporarily, Liow said.

This was the first time that the country closed down a school, although temporarily, due to the A/H1N1 flu, as a preventive measure to avoid more pupils from being infected by the disease.

Liow said that 2,100 students, teachers and staff from the school had been required to remain at home and avoid mixing with the public.

The other six confirmed cases announced on the day were imported.

Malaysia confirmed the first A/H1N1 case in the country on May 15. The country confirmed the first locally-transmitted case on June 17, which involved a 17-year-old local girl who also had contacted with a confirmed patient returning from Melbourne.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2009)