Australia's confirmed cases of A/ H1N1 flu jumped to 167 on Friday, Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon said.

This was an increase of 20 cases since Thursday. Thousands of people were confined to their home and four people hospitalized as the virus spread rapidly in Australia over the past four days.

Roxon said an urgent call had gone out for research into the A/ H1N1 flu strain and 5.4 million U.S. dollars in funding was available for scientists who could shed light on the spread of the virus.

The virus was not sufficiently widespread yet to justify restricting domestic travel or shutting down public transport and major events such as sporting matches, she added.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2009)