To date 37 people in Hungary have died of the A/H1N1 flu and 46,000 people had sought medical treatment with flu symptoms this week, chief medical officer Ferenc Falus said Wednesday.

Falus said that the number of flu patients had gone up by 6.7 percent since last week, and now appears to be leveling out, though it is still rising.

He said that 80 percent of the people seeking medical attention have been under the age of 35. Some 630 people have been hospitalized in the past week, up by 10 percent from a week ago.

Falus predicted that the winter school break, due to start nextweek, would slow down the spread of the virus and suggested that all children a nd pregnant women who have not yet been inoculated get a flu shot before Christmas.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2009)