H1N1 in Palestine: 9 deaths

At least nine people have been killed in the West Bank in a new outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain, known as "swine flu", Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad confirmed on Saturday.

Another 187 people were reported to have been infected with the virus.

"We have 187 infected cases and nine death cases. Such matters require that the Health Ministry to deal and follow up on the cases," Fayyad said.

He added that a state of emergency has been called and that "all health sectors are on standby."

Dr. Assad Ramlawi of the Palestinian Health Ministry said cases were first identified in the north of the West Bank.

Since then they have been reported gradually further and further south.

"Most of the cases, including the fatal ones, are from the northern part, but that doesn't mean that we won't have similar cases in the southern and middle part of the West Bank. We have discovered cases in the cities of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and Jericho," said Ramlawi.

According to Ramlawi medicine to fight the disease will be made freely available at all Palestinian medical centres.

The World Health Organisation in 2009 declared swine flu the first global flu pandemic in 40 years.

Initial reports then suggested H1N1 was killing as many as one in 15 of those infected - a death rate that would have been more than three times higher than the devastating flu pandemic of 1918-19.

Later investigation, however, showed that many cases hadn't been reported by people who experienced mild symptoms and that the strain was lethal mostly to those with complicating circumstances.

It is now considered a seasonal flu and included in the flu vaccine.