MANILA, Philippines -- For the first time in weeks, the Department of Health (DoH) did not report new cases of Influenza A(H1N1) on Friday, and the country's total number of confirmed cases of the disease stood at 344.

But this does not mean that the spread of the disease has stopped, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said, adding the DoH was collating reports from the regions.

"It really takes quite some time before we can say we have controld its spread," he said.

Duque said 262 of the 344 have fully recovered and on Friday, 15 were discharged from the hospital.

The rest are suffering only mild symptoms of A(H1N1), he said.