Daily updates on the spread of swine flu have been halted because local health authorities have given up on trying to contain the virus.
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Health minister Michael MGimpsey confirmed there is now sustained person to person transmission of the virus.
Last week the UK moved to a treatment phase focusing on the treatment of those who actually have swine flu.
The testing of suspects and tracing of close contacts of a patient with symptoms also stopped.
Mr McGimpsey said that from now on information on flu activity will be monitored through GP practices and hospital surveillance systems.
'Surveillance systems'
As the routine swabbing of suspected cases has been halted updates on the spread of the virus will be made in weekly bulletins.
"Up to this point our strategy has been to contain the spread of the swine flu virus whilst we gather as much information as possible.
"While this was necessary and useful when the virus was limited to a few individuals, it is clear that we are now seeing sustained person to person transmission and we must shift our focus to treatment," he said.
The new weekly bulletins, expected to be issued each Thursday, will build on well established arrangements for seasonal flu surveillance, said Mr McGimpsey.
"This is done through a network of 32 GP practices which are distributed across the province, covering some 170,000 people or just under 10% of the population."
The flu surveillance system had the greatest population coverage across the UK, he said.
"We are continuing to develop and improve these surveillance systems to help ensure we are ready and prepared to deal with the surge in cases anticipated in the autumn," said the minister.
Row
Meanwhile, a row developed at Stormont on Tuesday after Ulster Unionists hit out at the failure to find more immediate funding to help their Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, combat swine flu.
The Minister is angry that the funding for vaccines is held up by the summer recess.
"Even at its most benign swine flu will hit large numbers of people and cause major disruption within the economy and major disruption within hospitals as staff go off ill, so the best way to deal with that is through vaccines and I have those placed in order," Mr McGimpsey told UTV.
"The bill is around £18.5m. I have told my colleagues I have a minimum need of about £55m. I've said that and yet I'm being told we're not prepared to talk about this until next September."
The Assembly was recalled from its summer recess on Tuesday to allow Finance Minister Sammy Wilson to announce a reshuffle of Stormont funds.
The last daily bulletin released on Tuesday put the number of confirmed cases at 45.
Read Ken Reid's blog: A tetchy day
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