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SINGAPORE : A five-year-old boy has become the latest - and one of the youngest - person to die from the Influenza A (H1N1) virus here.
He was said to have caught the virus from his uncle, and was admitted to KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).
The boy was in critical condition over the Lunar New Year holidays. It was not clear when he died, as KKH was unable to provide details at press time. It is also not known if his uncle has recovered.
The death is possibly the first since the Ministry of Health (MOH) downgraded its H1N1 flu alert status from yellow to green on February 12.
Before this, the youngest reported H1N1 victim in Singapore was a two-year-old boy, who died in November last year.
MOH stopped reporting H1N1 fatalities after the virus was treated as part of the seasonal flu strains circulating in the community. As of September, the number of H1N1 deaths stood at 18.
According to the latest figures from MOH, the prevalence of H1N1 among patients with influenza-like illness was 28 per cent.
Overall, there are no signs of a significant rise in influenza activity in Singapore, according to the ministry. Last week, a daily average of 2,799 patients sought treatment at polyclinics for acute respiratory infections (ARIs), compared with 2,421 the week before.
The weekly number of polyclinic attendances for ARIs has also largely been below the epidemic level since early August last year.
But the official advice for those who have yet to get immunised is to get their jabs. As of early January, more than half a million vaccines remain uncommitted. - TODAY/ms
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