KUALA LUMPUR, June 22, 2009 (AFP) - Malaysian health authorities on Monday moved to contain a swine flu outbreak as it ordered a second school to close.

Health ministry director general Ismail Merican said the elementary school closure came after an 11-year-old female student had caught the A(H1N1) virus from a patient from the same school.

"With that, there are two positive cases among the students in that school and the ministry has to take action accordingly," the top health official said in a statement.

The closure came a day after authorities shut down a Chinese-language elementary school when an 11-year-old girl infected two classmates with the virus.

The authorities ordered four other schools to close a classroom in their schools but did not provide details on how many students were affected by the exercise.

Malaysia has seen a surge in the swine flu cases over the past week, bringing the total to 58 Monday after eight new cases were reported overnight, including three domestic infections in which the patients had no travel history.

"The 80 cases where we were notified in the past 24 hours showed signs that the flu outbreak has spread to the whole country," Ismail said.

The World Health Organization has raised its global alert to a maximum six, saying swine flu had reached pandemic status because of its geographical spread, and warned countries that already have large number of cases to prepare for a fresh wave of infections.

According to the latest WHO figures, nearly 44,300 cases of swine flu have been reported worldwide, with 180 fatalities.

Malaysia reported the country's first domestic case last week after a 17-year-old girl with no travel history caught the flu from another patient who had tested positive a week earlier.