A total of 1,709 A/H1N1 flu cases have been recorded in the Philippines over the past two months, the country's health chief said on Wednesday.

Among all the cases confirmed from the first week of May to June 27, 1,485 patients, or 86 percent, have already recovered while the remaining 224 are still under treatment -- most of them under home management, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a press statement.

"All cases exhibited mild symptoms with the most common as fever, cough, and nasal congestion," Duque said. But there was one reported death, he said.

"The patients range from 5 months to 79 years in age, with 18 years as the median age. Most of them belonged to the 10-19 years age group and the majority of the cases were male," said the official.

Duque said that of all the reported cases, 1,568 were Filipinos, and the rest were foreigners, mostly American and Japanese.

Philippine health officials predict that the cases will keep rising in the coming days and has decided not to issue daily updates on the Influenza A/H1N1 to dispel the public notion that there is a continued escalation of flu-affected Filipinos in the country.

Earlier, Duque said his department had shifted its strategy from "containment" to "mitigation" on A/H1N1 flu, which meant pouring more efforts in rehabilitating the sick and not going after the contacts of the sick person.

"Most countries no longer give daily updates. If we give updates everyday, it actually gives the public the wrong sense that cases are increasing ever day," Duque was quoted by a local newspaper.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2009)