BAGUIO CITY — Two days after two big universities here suspended classes for a week due to the Influenza A (H1N1) infection, the Department of Health declared on Friday that Baguio faced a community outbreak.

On Friday, the DoH listed 47 confirmed cases of the flu virus from all over the Cordillera Administrative Region, up from the 14 it had tallied on Monday.

Most of these patients were from the city.

“We are starting to have a low-level community transmission,” Dr. Myrna Cabotaje, DoH Cordillera director, told reporters.

The DoH declined to break down the number of patients, but it confirmed that 25 patients came from eight schools.

Saint Louis University suspended classes in all levels on Tuesday evening while the University of Baguio followed suit on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the DoH confirmed that the disease had infected four police trainees at Teachers’ Camp here.

The police cadets are recuperating in a facility at Camp Dangwa in La Trinidad, Benguet. But 40 other cadets were being monitored after they also showed flu symptoms, Cabotaje said.

Now that the alert level in the city had been elevated, DoH protocol required government doctors to seek out high-risk residents for monitoring and treatment, Cabotaje said.

“Those who are sick will not be given medicine unless they have medical condition [like] heart problems, liver and kidney troubles or tuberculosis. Not all patients will be given Tamiflu,” she said.

In other areas in Benguet, Abra, Kalinga, Apayao Mountain Province which reported only few cases, the DoH would continue contact tracing to contain the virus, she said.