PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA - Forty-seven new influenza A (H1N1) cases have been reported in the country, including six local transmissions.

Among those infected were five students, aged between 12 and 16, from three schools in Kuala Lumpur, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican.

He said one class each at the Seri Cempaka International School in Cheras and SK Setapak Indah in Kuala Lumpur were ordered closed until July 9 and the students placed under quarantine after a confirmed case was reported at each school.

He said a 12-year-old pupil from SK Setapak Indah was being treated at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital while a 13-year-old from the international school was receiving treatment at the Sungai Buloh Hospital.

Dr Ismail said three more students from SM Tsun Jin in Kuala Lumpur, one of the two schools ordered closed last week following locally transmitted cases there, were also confirmed having the flu yesterday.

'However, we have decided that SM Tsun Jin will restart classes as scheduled tomorrow (today) because the three new local transmission cases reported there involve students already under quarantine, and they have not had any outside contact since,' he told a press conference here yesterday.

Dr Ismail also said that the one A (H1N1) death reported in Brunei after having 93 confirmed cases showed that although global statistics put the fatality rate at 0.4%, it did not mean that every country would have a low death rate.

'In Malaysia, we intervened early by putting in place all the precautionary measures.

'This has helped ensure there are no deaths but this does not guarantee we will have no deaths from the flu,' he said.

Dr Ismail said the people needed to continuously take all the precautionary measures announced by the ministry.

Meanwhile, in Kuching, music fans at next week's Rainforest World Music Festival at the Sarawak Cultural Village have been advised not to hug and get too close to each other.

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam said this was important to minimise the risk of spreading the flu virus.

He said there were no plans to call off the three-day music festival, which was expected to attract some 20,000 music fans.

More than half of the 22,000 fans at last year's event were non-Sarawakians.

Dr Chan said concert-goers would be given face masks and be required to wash their hands before entering the festival venue.

In Sibu, the popular annual Borneo Festival, held together with the national Chinese cultural festival this year, was launched last night.