Thai influenza case 'just common flu'

"The person is now safe, not sick, not having any fever. The person is now in a normal state," he said.

Lab results due here on Wednesday from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention will verify that the unidentified person was not suffering from the swine flu, he said.

"By then, Thailand will be free of the disease, and so far there's been only one suspicious case, pending CDC confirmation indicating that it is only ordinary flu infecting the person," he said.

That person's case was foolproof, because the person was recovering after the end of the seven-day critical period, he said.

The World Health Organisation yesterday reported a total of 4,379 cases of the new influenza Type A (H1N1) in 29 countries, with 49 fatalities, the latest coming from Costa Rica. The figure was a large jump from the previous day's tally of 3,440 cases reported.

A total of 436,346 Thai and foreign travellers underwent thermal scans at key Thai airports between April 27 and Saturday.

Of the 72 registering high body temperatures, 27 have been placed under ministry care and eight were put on the watch list, including the person whose final diagnosis from the US CDC is pending.

A Chulalongkorn Hospital doctor commended the ministry's disclosure of the case of the person in question, saying it was transparent and crucial in communicating with the public over the severity of the new flu.