On June 16, 2009, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced three newly confirmed cases of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) in Taiwan, making the number of confirmed cases to date 58.The 56th case is a domestic case, while the 57th and 58th cases are imported cases.

The 56th case is a Taiwan-born 25-year-old female who is the daughter of the 53rd case with no history of travel. After the 53rd case returned to Taiwan from the United States on June 10, 2009, the 53rd case had stayed with the 56th case.On June 15, 2009, the 56th case developed symptoms such as running nose and light and dry cough.On June 15, 2009, the 56th case sought medical attention and was isolated for treatment. On June 16, 2009, pandemic influenza A (H1N1) infection was confirmed in the case.On the other hand, the 57th case is a Taiwan-born 31-year-old female who traveled to Central America during May 29 and June 12, 2009.On June 15, 2009, the 57th case developed symptoms.On June 16, 2009, pandemic influenza A (H1N1) infection was confirmed in the case. The 58th case is a Taiwan-born 16-year-old female student who is currently studying abroad in the United States.On June `12, 2009, the case returned to Taiwan from Los Angeles. On June 15, 2009, the 58th case developed symptoms.On June 16, 2009, pandemic influenza A (H1N1) infection was confirmed in the case.CECC indicated that all the close contacts of the above-mentioned confirmed cases have been contacted for relevant disease control measures.

Further, CECC stated that World Health Organization (WHO) raised the level of influenza pandemic alert to phase 6 and declared a pandemic of moderate severity on June 11, 2009. Despite the number of confirmed cases resulted from the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) outbreak in the affected countries continue to rise every day, the overall level of clinically severe or fatal cases of respiratory illness in countries around the world is similar to the level seen during local seasonal influenza.As a result, WHO recommend focusing national efforts on administering appropriate care to patients and providing accurate and timely information concerning the pandemic and government measures to the public instead of carrying out measures such as closing borders or restricting international travel. Hence, CECC has planned to review all its current disease control strategies, including classification of notifiable communicable disease and pandemic alert level.In the mean time, the pandemic alert level in Taiwan remains the same.