LONDON - THE number of Influenza A(H1N1) cases is growing, but it should not be cause for alarm. The flu is generally mild and most people recover from it.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday put the number of H1N1-related deaths at 311 with nearly 71,000 confirmed cases worldwide.

Doctors, however, have stressed that in most fatalities, the patients had underlying health problems ranging from asthma to chronic lung ailments, heart disease or, in the case of an Australian man, cancer. These problems made the patients more susceptible to the flu.

At the start of the H1N1 outbreak in March, most countries sought to contain the flu virus through various measures, such as home quarantines and travel bans to countries with a large number of cases.

After the WHO declared a pandemic early last month, many governments decided to switch their strategy from containment to mitigation.

In Britain, The Guardian newspaper reported that although the country's third fatality, a six-year-old girl, and an apparent surge in H1N1 cases in the past few days made it appear as though the epidemic had reached a worrying new phase, the pattern was exactly as experts had predicted.

While the danger to the frail, ill and infirm increases as the numbers of infected grow, it does not mean that this strain of flu has become more virulent, the paper said.

Referring to six-year-old Sameerah Ahmad's death, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said that tragic as her death was, 'I would like to emphasise that, across England, the majority of (H1N1) flu cases have not been severe', BBC reported.

'I would reiterate that the risk to the general public remains low and we can all play our part in slowing the spread of the virus by following simple hygiene procedures,' he added.

Please read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.