Spencer's revelation came at the 63rd annual educational conference of the Association of Public Health Inspectors held at the Iberostar Rose Hall Hotel on Tuesday.

The minister pointed out that the country had treated the situation as a national emergency as soon as the World Health Organisation alerted countries to the outbreak in late April. "We activated our National Emergency Operations Centre immediately and it has since remained active. We ramped up our surveillance and monitoring me-chanisms and had all our health workers on-board to manage the disease as part of our strategic plan a month before the country even recorded its first laboratory-confirmed cases," he said.

Spencer also urged persons, particularly those at high risk for complications from Influenza A (H1N1), to listen to the advice of medical personnel and visit the doctor as soon as they began to experience flu-like symptoms.

These persons include pregnant women, persons with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, heart disease, or any condition that impairs the immune system, and children under five years old.

Jamaica now has 149 laboratory-confirmed cases of Influenza A (H1N1) and five deaths. For more information, persons may call the ministry's toll-free line at 1-888-ONE LOVE (1-888-663-5683) or contact their parish health department.