Malaysian Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai on Thursday confirmed 61 new cases of A/H1N1 flu in Malaysia, bringing the total cases to 574.

Liow said that among the new cases reported on the day, 37 were imported cases and 24 were locally transmitted cases.

So far, he said that 472 patients of the total 574 had fully recovered, while 102 patients were still under treatment.

He also said that Malaysia was moving into the mitigation phase in order to slow down the spread of the virus within the country.

He said the ministry introduced the containment stage since the outbreak of the disease, while the mitigation phase involved three measures.

He explained that the main measure of mitigation phase involved the people in prevention and control of the disease, including social distancing, reduced public interaction and practiced self-hygiene.

He said that the second measure was for mild cases of cough and fever, the patients would undergo home quarantine.

He added that the third measure involved the hospitalization for the high risk groups with the virus, who were, at the same time, diagnosed with asthma, chronic respiratory illness, diabetes, organ failure, obesity and pregnant women.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2009)