There were 29 newly confirmed influenza A/H1N1 cases in Hong Kong on Thursday, raising the accumulated number of such cases in the city to 857, local health authorities said in an update released in the evening.

The new cases involved 16 male and 13 females, the Health Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said in a bulletin.

The department said it has so far advised 42 secondary schools with confirmed cases to suspend classes or start summer break to contain the spread of the disease.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2009)