The number of confirmed swine flu cases in Australia rose to 1,009 yesterday, more than triple the number just one week ago, the health department said.
The vast majority of the cases — 874 — are in the southern state of Victoria, prompting several other states and territories to quarantine schoolchildren returning home from Victoria for seven days.
Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon on Friday said health officials were not surprised by the rapid spread of the virus, and said it was likely to continue spreading throughout the southern hemisphere’s winter months.
“This recent surge in cases was not unexpected, given the behavior of the disease that we’ve seen in other countries,” she said.
The defense department canceled its annual parade celebrating the Queen’s birthday near Canberra yesterday, after one of the cadets who was supposed to have marched in the parade tested positive for the virus. The cadet and others he came in contact with were placed in isolation.
Meanwhile, Philippine officials announced yesterday that the start of college classes would be postponed for a week until June 15 because of concerns over the rising number of swine flu cases.
The Department of Health has reported 33 swine flu cases, and all have shown mild symptoms.
The postponement will give foreign students who come from countries with swine flu cases time to self-quarantine, a top education official told DZBB radio.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
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