HONG KONG, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 in the Asia-Pacific region drops to eight as New Zealand ruled out one case on Wednesday.
More tests were carried out on a sixth person who had been identified earlier as having the influenza A/H1N1 virus but the tests ruled out the virus.
There are two confirmed cases of the influenza A/H1N1 in South Korea while one in China's Hong Kong.
The Ministry of Health in New Zealand said there are 14 probable cases - one down from the number of Tuesday. There are 84suspected cases and another 358 people are in isolation and treated with Tamiflu.
Meanwhile, six students and two teachers from Avondale College in Auckland are in self-imposed isolation after traveling on a plane from America with a person suspected of having the virus.
Numbers of suspected cases, and those receiving treatment and in isolation, will fluctuate when more suspected cases are found, or suspected cases are ruled out, a spokesman with the country's health authority said.
There is no evidence of community transmission in New Zealand which is in the containment phase.
Despite there being no confirmed cases of the new flu in Australia, the country's Health Minister Nicola Roxon said on Wednesday that the threat level was not downgraded.
"We do have medical experts saying to us we still don't know how this global virus will develop over future weeks," Roxon told reporters in Melbourne.
The latest suspected cases in Japan are a woman, in her 20s, who recently returned home from the United States, and a man, in his 40s, who tested positive in flu A examination and is yet to be confirmed, according to Japan's health ministry.
Japan has yet to confirm any cases of the A/H1N1 strain so far, although some people have tested positive for the influenza A virus.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura on Wednesday ordered the health ministry to make preparations for a possible upgrade of the World Health Organization's pandemic alert for the A/H1N1 flu to the highest level of 6.
In contrast, the authorities in Singapore said it will lower the alert level for influenza A/H1N1 from "orange" to "yellow."
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan told a news conference that the downgrading will be done progressively over the next five days, but adding that Singapore will remain vigilant and act nimbly.
In Hong Kong, where the first infection case in Asia was confirmed on May 1, 12 Mexican travelers left the city for Mexico on a Mexican charter plane on Wednesday morning. But the Mexican index patient, in stable condition, remained in hospital.
Four Mexican travelers, including two who have been quarantined in Metropark Hotel in Wanchai and another two in Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), were among the 12 Mexicans.
Quarantine orders imposed on other people in connection with the case would be withdrawn when the orders expire later this week, provided that they show no symptoms of influenza A/ H1N1 infection, a spokesman for the region's health authority said.
The charter plane was sent by the Mexican government to pick up Mexicans "who wanted to leave China." It had flown to Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou to pick up passengers.
The Bruneian government also lifted quarantine on about 200 passengers, who had arrived on a flight from Britain on Monday evening.
A passenger on the flight had higher-than-normal body temperature, Health Minister Setia Hj Suyoi Hj Osman said, adding that two other passengers on the same flight had traveled to flu-affected countries.
The minister said these three cases made it necessary for the authorities to take precautionary measures and quarantine all passengers on the flight.
To prevent against influenza A/H1N1, the government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Wednesday announced that it will initiate a series of anti-flu activities which mainly involve a campaign to clean the entire city.
The region's health authority will launch a city-wide anti-flu activities, including the cleaning of public facilities, relevant exhibition and seminars of A/H1N1 flu prevention so as to raise the resident's awareness of personal and public hygiene.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), together with China, Japan and South Korea, will hold a "Health Ministers' Special Meeting" for combating influenza A/H1N1 on May 7-8 in Thailand.
The urgently-arranged meeting is aimed to slow down the propagation of the new Influenza A/H1N1 epidemic in the region, Dr. Suphan Srithamma, spokesman of Thailand's Ministry of Public Health said on Wednesday.
The main objective is to assess the latest development of the new strain of influenza in ASEAN countries and improve control and preventive measures while working on new effective control innovation, he said.
The control measures are expected to include surveillance system, laboratory examination, stockpiles on anti-viral drugs, research and development on vaccine development and epidemiological information exchange.
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