A senior Health Ministry official said on Sunday that while last month’s outbreak of the seasonal flu is under control and declining, the second phase of influenza may return with the onset of winter. During a visit to the western province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Dr. Mahmoud Soroush, head of the disease surveillance department of the Health Ministry’s Communicable Disease Control Center, said the flu pandemic that saw a surge last month “has declined across the country.” He, however, warned that precautionary measures must be taken “as the second phase of the flu may return due to the cold weather,” reports IRNA. Last month, 33 people died of swine flu in two provinces in southwestern Iran, including
28 in Kerman and five in Sistan-Baluchestan, and hundreds were treated in hospitals in several provinces for the common seasonal illness.
