The risk of an A/H1N1 flu pandemic in China will increase as the country nears its flu season in the winter and spring, China's Health Minister Chen Zhu said Friday.

"The interweaving between A/H1N1 and seasonal flu could markedly increase the risk of an A/H1N1 flu pandemic," he said at an international symposium held here from Friday to Saturday.

As the total number of infected people increases, drug resistance cases, serious cases of the A/H1N1 flu or even fatalities would be "inevitable," he said.

The minister warned that the flu's impact to social and economic development should not be underestimated.

The Chinese mainland reported 2,861 cases of the A/H1N1 influenza as of Wednesday, the latest figures from the Ministry of Health showed. More than 2,500 of all infected have recovered.

The influenza had so far caused one critical case but no deaths on the mainland, the minister said. And it has not broken out at the community level.

The mainland's first critical case of the A/H1N1 flu involved a17-year-old high school student in the southern province of Guangdong, but the severity of his case was the result of a pre-existing illness.

Chen called on all countries to enhance cooperation in disease prevention, share of information on flu epidemic, and the development of vaccine and new drugs so as to deal with more challenges brought by the A/H1N1 flu.

The International Scientific Symposium on Influenza A/H1N1 Pandemic Response and Preparedness was hosted by China's Ministry of Health with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Lancet.

The two-day event attracted nearly 1,000 officials and experts from more than 30 countries and regions.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2009)