The Ministry of Health on Thursday reported two more confirmed A/H1N1 flu case, bringing the total number of infections on the mainland to 60.

One of the cases reported by the Beijing health bureau was a 24-year-old Chinese national who arrived in Beijing on May 31 from New York on board Air China flight CA982. He tested positive for H1N1 on Wednesday night.

Shanxi Province also reported its first case. A 20-year-old Chinese flew from Canada to Beijing before taking another flight to Taiyuan, Shanxi's capital, on May 30.

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) said a Chinese drug company -- Hualan Biological Engineering Inc -- received the H1N1 vaccine virus sample from a lab of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Hualan, the largest seasonal flu vaccine producer in the country, received the sample on Wednesday night, Yin Hongzhang, head of the SFDA biology production office, told Xinhua.

"Among the rest of the 10 qualified flu vaccines manufacturers, some also applied to the WHO for seed viruses," Yin said. "They will also receive the seed viruses soon."

Fan Bei, Hualan's deputy general manager, said much testing is still needed on the safety and dosage required.

"We will arrange the production according to the guidance of the SFDA and WHO," he said.

Yin expected the first batch of vaccines could be produced from late July.

But the country was still waiting for the WHO to make the decision on whether A/H1N1 flu should be categorized as seasonal or pandemic.

If it is a seasonal flu vaccine, the first batch would be 3 million doses and the annual output could breach 360 million.

But, for a pandemic vaccine, the first batch would only be 250,000 doses and annual production will be 27 million as China only has one pandemic flu vaccine producer, Yin said.

WHO Assistant Director-general Keiji Fukuda said WHO is getting closer to declaring a full pandemic of A/H1N1 flu.

Seasonal flu occurs annually in predictable patterns, allowing people to develop resistance, while pandemic flu is rare, meaning that it is difficult for people to develop resistance. In the latter case, vaccine doses need to be higher to be effective.

Chinese medical experts said that China has a susceptible population of 200 million including 5,000 pregnant women, and the country should pay special attention to A/H1N1 flu prevention.

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2009)