T

he Health Ministry pledged Thursday to do everything possible to curb the spread of the H1N1 variant of influenza A, as the number of confirmed cases nationwide almost doubled to 52 in the last couple of days.

Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said her office was on high alert, after 24 more people from across the country were reported to have contracted the flu virus.

"We'll continue thermal scanning at airports to monitor the health of people entering the country," she said at a press conference in Jakarta, adding all 52 cases in Indonesia were of the mild variety.

Siti added the influenza A virus had now spread beyond the northern part of Sumatra, into Kalimantan province.

Sixteen of the newly suspected patients are undergoing treatment at three hospitals in Jakarta, while three others were admitted to Adam Malik Hospital in Medan, North Sumatra, one to Bali's Sanglah General Hospital, two to Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, West Java, and two to Kanujoso Djati Hospital in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

"It seems like it has spread everywhere," Siti said.

Fourteen of the new patients had traveled aboard prior to contracting the flu. Three are foreigners, while the rest are Indonesian citizens.

The three suspects undergoing intensive medical treatment in Medan have tested positive for the flu.

Previously, health expert Handrawan Nadesul had warned of a wider spread of the flu.

"Influenza A spreads more quickly than bird flu, and Indonesia is always vulnerable because the country's bio-security is weak, due to our being a large country," he said recently in Jakarta.

"When there was an outbreak of bird flu, people still drove their vehicles to the market and back home to residential areas without having washed their tires," he pointed out.

"Tires can help spread the virus."

Siti said the H1N1 virus was no more virulent than the regular flu, but the Health Ministry would remain on the alert.

"We will prepare the target hospitals, the Tamiflu stock and the labs, and improve our public education campaign regarding the H1N1 flu," she said.

With health authorities in countries such as Hong Kong and Denmark reporting that some patients are showing resistance to Tamiflu, the WHO-recommended drug to combat the H1N1 infection, Siti said no such cases had been discovered in Indonesia.

"We will research that possibility," she said, adding if a patient was resistant to Tamiflu, prescriptions of other anti-influenza drugs would suffice.

The WHO has announced the majority of patients will experience mild symptoms and make a full recovery within a week, often in the absence of any form of medical treatment.

Handrawan pointed out that despite the fact the H1N1 strain had a low mortality rate, countries like Japan and Singapore were taking more measures to contain its spread.

"They have gone all out and assigned workers to wipe clean the buttons in elevators or lavatory door handles."

Siti urged people to adopt hygienic and healthy habits, such as washing their hands and wearing masks if they had caught the flu.