The World Health Organisation said that it is possible that the Influenza A H1N1 virus is already in the country as it raised the level of Influenza Pandemic Alert from phase 5 to phase 6 this morning.
The Team Leader for Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response for WHO, Doctor Jacob Kool said many people do not go to a doctor if they have flu like symptoms and the virus could already be in Fiji without detection.
And the Hospitals and Health Centres around the country are treating 20 to 30 people daily with Influenza like illness and Kool said the Health Ministry's Mataika House is well prepared to check any suspected cases of influenza A H1N1.
There are now 30,000 cases on H1N1 worldwide and 141 people have so far died from it. In the past week the number of cases in Australia tripled to over 1,300.
Feature
H1N1 virus possibly in Fiji
