Thailand's 27 provinces hit by the flu with 589 infected cases

On Friday, the ministry confirmed 71 new confirmed cases of the flu, bringing the number of the cases in Thailand to 589.

Eleven of them were undergoing treatment in hospital and all of them are safe and had no severe symptoms.

The Health Ministry also reported that Bangkok was the hardest hit area with 349 patients followed by Nonthaburi with 82 cases, Pathum Tani with 63 cases, Chonburi with 30 cases, Samut Prakarn with 27 cases, Nakhon Pathom with 8, Phuket with four and Chiang Mai with two.

The Ministry's deputy permanent secretary Dr Paijit Warachit said 70 schools and nine universities have reported to have infected cases.

 " So far we found that most of the patients were students," he said.

He added the Health Ministry will collaborate with the Ministry of Education to control the spread of disease among students.

World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that 39,620 cases had been infected with the new flu virus and 167 deaths worldwide.