BEIJING - A/H1N1 has become the predominant strain of flu virus in China, but is unlikely to have as great impact as it did in 2009, reported the Health News on Thursday, a newspaper run by the Health Ministry.

After nearly half-a-year with no severe cases of A/H1N1 flu reported, the virus has started to take its toll again in the last two months.

Related readings:  A/H1N1 patients make up 90% of all HK flu cases  A/H1N1 death toll rises to 25 in Italy  H1N1 flu puts 2 in intensive care unit  A/H1N1 flu kills 56 in Egypt since Oct

China has reported 129 severe cases of A/H1N1 since the end of 2010, after 18 straight weeks without any reports of severe cases since August 2010. Twenty deaths caused by A/H1N1 were reported as of Tuesday since the beginning of 2011.

A weekly report by the Chinese National Influenza Center showed that A/H1N1 had become the predominant flu strain since the end of 2010. Previously, influenza A (H3N2) virus predominated.

Shu Yuelong, director of the center, was quoted in Health News, as saying that as China entered the peak influenza season, more acute cases of A/H1N1 would occur, but the pandemic would not be as severe as that in 2009.

Shu said, current monitoring results showed that both the percentage of flu-like cases in outpatient and emergency visits and confirmed cases of influenza were lower than the level in the same period last year.

He said that vaccination against A/H1N1 had been effective.

The A/H1N1 flu outbreak peaked in terms of severity in 2009. The Chinese mainland reported its first case in May of that year. More than 120,000 A/H1N1 flu cases were recorded in 2009, with 648 of them leading to death.