Published Tuesday, 09 June 2009
All but one case has been confirmed in the past week and the increase came hours after Health Minister Michael McGimpsey warned the Stormont Assembly that Northern Ireland should brace itself for more cases in the coming days and weeks.
The latest case is a man who was a contact of a previously confirmed case.
The Department of Health said he had mild flu symptoms and was recovering at home.
The Public Health Agency is arranging a follow-up of people who were in close contact with him since he developed symptoms.
Mr McGimpsey said: "It is not surprising that other cases are beginning to emerge and I would again urge people not to be alarmed. I am pleased to hear that this man is recovering well."
The minister added: "The public can be reassured that we are prepared for a situation like this. Our containment strategy to use antivirals to slow the spread of the virus also appears to be effective, as well as reducing symptoms.
"But we cannot be complacent. We will continue to be vigilant to ensure we are well placed to deal with any emergency."
Earlier the minister told the Assembly that if incidents reached a certain level, local health authorities would have to look closely at how they manage the supply of anti-virals.
"Currently we remain at the World Health Organisation pandemic alert level 5," he said.
"This means that a pandemic is thought to be imminent but is not necessarily inevitable."
'Phase 6'
The World Health Organisation has advised that we are getting closer to Phase 6 - where a pandemic is declared, said Mr McGimpsey.
"It is not possible to state when this may happen but we are preparing for a possible announcement in the near future."
The Health Minister said that a move to Phase 6 would be "a serious development" but that this level would reflect the global view.
"The number of people developing this disease will certainly rise over the coming weeks, as we have already seen in parts of Scotland and England," he said.
"Thus we need to be prepared for the next stage, in which the outbreak can no longer be contained and has spread more widely. At that point we expect to have to move from a containment strategy to a mitigation strategy."
Northern Ireland has significant stockpiles of antivirals, enough to treat 50% of the population, being increased to treat 80%.
An agreement for a pre-pandemic vaccine has also been signed. By December there could be enough vaccine to protect at least half of the population from swine flu, the minister said.
As of Monday, there were confirmed cases in 73 countries, with 25,952 people having contracted the virus and a total of 139 deaths.
Throughout the UK there are now 664 confirmed cases. In the Republic of Ireland, 11 have been confirmed.