Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will discuss with Health Ministry officials the possibility of releasing information on hot spots or locations with rampant Influenza A (H1N1) cases to combat the deadly disease.

"We need to know if the hot spots will help curb the spread of the disease. If the Health Ministry feels that it would help, then we will go ahead and release (the information on) the locations.

"This differs from the haze, where we publish the hot spots. The haze can be seen by the naked eye but not H1N1. So we have to be careful," the deputy prime minister said.

He said the nation was now in the mediation stage of the deadly virus as the confinement stage was over less than a month ago.

"It can be said that we are at an alarming stage," he told reporters after opening the Crime Prevention Campaign organised by the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation and the Education Ministry.

"However, we have taken all precautionary measures to curb the problem. We are not hiding anything and information is given to the public on a daily basis through the media.

“From there, we can know the locations like if a school is closed in a particular area. Although the country's percentage of H1N1 cases is still low compared with the overall population, we cannot take this threat lightly," said Muhyiddin, who is also education minister.

RM20 mil for ministry to buy Tamiflu

He added that among the steps taken by the government was to ensure that all hospitals in the country, including private hospitals, had stocked up on Tamiflu, the medicine used to fight H1N1.

"The public awareness had also been heightened. Now all hospitals know what measures to take in treating those who fall ill due to the virus," he said.

He said that although there could be some locations in the country yet to record any H1N1 patients, it did not mean that the location was free from the virus.

Muhyiddin said the government would not be complacent in handling H1N1 as it involved the lives of the people and it was important that steps were taken to curtail the illness.

He also said that an extra allocation of RM20 million had been disbursed to the Health Ministry to stock up on Tamiflu.

- Bernama