On June 10, 2009, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced eight newly confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1) imported from Thailand in Taiwan, which are the 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, and 32nd confirmed cases in Taiwan.

Six confirmed cases (2 males and 4 females) are classmates with the 22nd confirmed case, and the other two confirmed cases (2 males) are classmates with the 23rd confirmed case.A total of 33 students have experienced symptoms.The laboratory results confirmed influenza A (H1N1) infection in 11 students and eliminated influenza A (H1N1) infection in 20 students.At the time of writing, 2 students are still waiting for their test results.The remaining students who have not experienced symptoms have been asked to conduct self-health management and requested to contact the health authority or call the Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922, for medical attention if they develop influenza-like symptoms so as to facilitate implementation of subsequent measures such as specimen collection and isolation treatment.

CECC urges students to pay attention to disease prevention when planning and taking graduation trips.If one experiences influenza-like symptoms after returning to Taiwan, please be sure to contact the health authority by calling 1922 and notify the organizer of the trip in order to track and monitor the close contacts since the members in the same tour group are at higher risk of infection if any one of the members contracted the illness.It is expected that more cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection will be confirmed in the near future.CECC stated that they would continue to follow up on all the cases till the all the cases have completed 7-day quarantine. According to the epidemiological investigation, some of the confirmed cases that developed symptoms after returning to Taiwan have come into contact with several people in Taiwan. CECC is currently closely monitoring those close contacts to determine if they too have become infected with influenza A (H1N1).

On the other hand, according to Article 42 of the Communicable Disease Control Act, the tour guide of a tour group is responsible for reporting and taking care of his/her tour group member if the tour group member develops influenza-like symptoms.If a tour guide violates Article 42 of the Communicable Disease Control Act, he/she will be subjected to a fine of at least NT$ 10,000 and up to NT$ 150,000.

The Ministry of Education and the Tourism Bureau have both been notified about the above-mentioned confirmed cases.The Tourism Bureau has also alerted travel agencies in Taiwan to pay closer attention to occurrence of cases with influenza-like symptoms in their tour groups and urged them to voluntarily notify the health authority concerning such cases.

CECC has reported the newly confirmed cases to the World Health Organization and the Thai government.Further, CECC indicated that Taiwan would continue to work with the Thai government on the epidemiological investigation of the cases together.