The number of swine flu cases in Thailand has almost quadrupled since Wednesday to 106. Schools have been ordered closed in Bangkok and entertainment venues have been asked to close in Pattaya and Phuket.

 Entertainment venues asked to close Thailand’s confirmed cases of the H1N1 swine-flu virus jumped to 106 yesterday, a five-fold leap in three days, health officials said.

“Altogether 106 swine flu cases were confirmed today,” Thai Health Minister Wittaya Kaewparadai said.

“All of them are now being placed in special wards to prevent the virus from spreading,” the minister told news reports on Saturday.

Entertainment establishments on Phuket were asked during a meeting Saturday to close their businesses for five days so that the owner would have enough time to clean and spray their places, according to the Thai News Agency.

The request was made after an employee of one entertainment centre was found to have contracted the virus, becoming the first case to have been reported in Phuket.

Blood tests on 26 employees of Phuket nightlife and other entertainment venues on the island believed to have come into close contact with Hong Kong tourists who returned home recently and were diagnosed with the virus, will be known later.

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) officials on Saturday began cleaning and fumigating all 435 schools under the agency’s administration in the Thai capital.

The number of confirmed cases of Influenza A (H1N1) virus victims in Thailand on Saturday rose by 17, bringing the total victims to 106, as experts admit that it is now difficult to control the virus from spreading in the country.

Dr. Paichit Varachit, Deputy Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Public Health, told journalists that all 17 new virus victims were pupils at a kindergarten in Bangkok’s neighboring province of Pathum Thani. 
He said that public health officials will visit the kindergarten later in the day.

Dr. Phitaya Charupoonphol, Dean of the Faculty of Public Health at Mahidol University said that six students from the third year and fourth year developed flu-like symptoms and were sent to Siriraj Hospital to for tests.

The Mahidol dean said  two were confirmed as having contracted the Influenza A(H1N1) virus while the other four were put under close observation.

The six students had no connection with any group of students which had earlier contracted the virus, he said.

The virus now spreading in Thailand is at the ‘B’ level, meaning that it is spreading among groups of people and it may enter the ‘C’ level when people throughout the country contract the disease, Dr. Paichit said, indicating that the ministry is well prepared for controlling the disease.

Thailand could expect more than 10,000 A(H1N1) infections nationwide as the swine flu had already spread across the country, Witthaya Kaewparadai, the public health minister, warned on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Thai Hotels Association (THA) has urged entertainment venues, pubs and restaurants in the tourist resort of Pattaya to close their outlets temporarily in order to help prevent the spread of A(H1N1) influenza.

THA president Chatchawal Supachayanont said bars and restaurants are usually overcrowded so they better suspend business to avoid widespread infections.