Overall, national influenza H1N1 activity in the community has peaked and is falling. There remains some regional variation, with some areas experiencing higher than usual influenza activity.

The Ministry's twice weekly updates will now reduce to one per week - produced each Thursday.

The number of influenza related calls to Healthline has returned to the usual seasonal level, though there are more calls overall to Healthline, the majority are related to the Christchurch earthquake.

There has been one additional death linked to swine flu reported, bringing the total to date to 18. Thirteen of these deaths have so far been confirmed as being due to swine flu. Details of the latest death is reported on the Hutt Valley DHB website.

As at midday Thursday, there have been 669 hospitalisations of laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1, including 9 people with confirmed H1N1 currently in intensive care. So far this year, a total of 104 people with confirmed H1N1 have been admitted to intensive care. These figures do not include influenza-like illness among people admitted to hospital without a positive H1N1 laboratory test result.

It's still important to seek medical advice early, particularly for people with underlying medical conditions or who are severely overweight or pregnant as they are at greater risk of a more severe illness. If you have flu-like symptoms, phoning your GP first before you go in can help them manage your care and prevent spread to others. For health advice, call Healthline on 0800 611 116. Stay home if you are unwell.