THE DEATH TOLL  from the influenza outbreak climbed to 18 on Monday June 13, with two deaths recorded in Colon but the number of affected patients is described as “normal.”

West Panama, , David, Santiago, San Miguelito and Freshwater, are some of the areas where deaths have occurred.

At a Presidency press conference, Nestor Sosa, director general of the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies , reported that of the 18 deaths, 15 were from people who had risk factors.

By the time of the conference  607 patients had been hospitalized with  Severe Acute Respiratory Infection, 220 of whom  have already been discharged. 35% of the cases were related to A H1N1 flu.

Sosa said that the health authorities have not declared a health epidemic because the number of patients so far  is 'normal'.
"The unusual factor is the number of people requiring hospitalization," Sosa said.

However the alert continues because of the unusual increase in the number of people affected.

Since mid-April, 800,000 people have been vaccinated against influenza. It is expected that in the coming days, 1,180,000 vaccines arrive in the country to be applied to the entire population.

Health authorities reported that so far no recommendations have been  made to suspend the opening ceremony of the third set of locks of the Panama Canal, on  June 26 . However, they requested sick people refrain from attending the event, to prevent further infections. Over 21,000 tickets have been distributed  to the public and special guests including many heads of state, and celebrities.

Authorities  also ruled out the closure of borders because of the virus

Meanwhile scores of thousands of students returned to school on Monday, but teachers at one school in Chorrera voted to send the children home.

Meanwhile Itza Barahona de Mosca, MoH  National Director of Health emphasized that it  "is not charging for injections, nor for the vaccine card."