(MENAFN - Jordan Times) More than 600 new instances of H1N1 (swine) flu were recorded over the past week, including the Kingdom's second confirmed death related to the virus, health authorities said on Wednesday.
The swine flu-related fatality was an Amman resident who also suffered from other ailments, according to the ministry's weekly report received by The Jordan Times yesterday.
The 60-year-old man suffered from heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, which weakened his immune system prior to his infection with the virus, according to the report. The patient passed away in Prince Hamzah Hospital.
The Kingdom's first confirmed swine flu death, which was announced last week, was a 26-year-old man who was also receiving treatment for a lung infection and tuberculosis.
Over the past week, health authorities registered 663 instances of swine flu, raising the total number of cases in the Kingdom to 1,695.
The new cases represent the greatest weekly increase in H1N1 infections, Health Ministry Primary Healthcare Director Adel Bilbeisi told The Jordan Times, stressing that authorities are expecting similar increases this winter.
According to the report, 55 per cent of the newly confirmed cases were males. Of the total, 655 cases were Jordanians, while the remaining eight were foreigners.
Prince Hamzah Hospital Director Ali Hiasat told The Jordan Times that the number of people visiting the hospital to be tested for swine flu is on the rise "as the disease has become like the seasonal flu".
He noted that around 1,900 people were tested for the virus at the hospital over the past two days.
Private Hospitals Association (PHA) President Fawzi Hammouri said hundreds of people are also being tested at the country's private hospitals.
"We receive some 500 people daily and 75 per cent of them are under the age of 19," Hammouri said in a press conference yesterday, adding that 30 per cent of the cases tested positive.
Meanwhile, the first shipment of 100,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine will arrive in the Kingdom during the first week of November, a ministry source told The Jordan Times yesterday.
The first batch of the 2.25 million vaccine doses purchased by the government from international companies was originally expected to arrive this month.
The vaccines will be exclusively for pilgrims, who will be inoculated ahead of the Hajj, upon a Saudi request.
By Khetam Malkawi
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