The Philippines now ranks Number 8 worldwide in terms of confirmed Influenza A(H1N1) cases, overtaking Argentina and Japan, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday.

WHO, in its latest pandemic update issued last Friday, July 3, showed the Philippines with a total of 1,709 confirmed H1N1 cases, surpassing Japan’s 1446 cases (260 lower than the Philippines), and Argentina’s 1,587 cases (119 cases lower).

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines ranked first, surpassing Thailand’s 1,414 cases, the agency said.

H1N1-related deaths, however, are lower in the Philippines with only one case documented since the outbreak. The United States remains the country with the most number of deaths at 170 followed by Mexico with 119 deaths.

The WHO said that the number of H1N1 cases has reached 89, 921 following the discovery of 12,520 newly confirmed cases.

Majority of the new cases are in the US (6,185), Mexico (1,582), Chile (1,165), United Kingdom (909) and the Philippines (848). WHO also said the new three confirmed cases from the Netherlands, Antilles, Curacao, were crew members of a cruise ship.

“The crew members did not leave the boat during their illness nor during the 24 hours preceding the onset of the symptoms,’’ WHO said.

The seven confirmed cases from Norway involved some crew members and passengers of a cruise ship who have not left the boat since they got hit by the virus, WHO added.

The WHO update also showed 50 new additional deaths, bringing the total number of deaths worldwide to 382.

The Department of Health said that of the 1,709 confirmed H1N1 cases in the country, 86% or 1,485 have fully recovered. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed there are still 224 (14%) cases that are undergoing treatment, but mostly in their homes.

He said that all the cases “exhibited mild symptoms with the most common as fever (86%), cough (81%), and nasal congestion (49%).’’ (Shianee Mamanglu)