The A/H1N1 influenza outbreak, which has killed nearly 800 people on the Chinese mainland, has passed its peak in the autumn-winter flu season, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday.

The mainland saw a sharp drop in the proportion of A/H1N1 in all flu cases, down from 36.6 percent in January to 11.1 percent last month, the ministry said in a report posted on its website.

The disease had killed 793 people by February 28, according to the report.

Experts spotted no mutations in the virus and an estimated 30 percent of the population had immunity against the strain, the report said.

The ministry, however, warned that though a pandemic was unlikely to occur in the near future, localized spreading of the disease could not yet be ruled out, especially in crowded public venues such as schools.

The ministry said flu prevention measures should not be eased as the population still had limited access to immunization against the A/H1N1 flu strain.

As of February 28, more than 82 million Chinese people had been inoculated with the A/H1N1 flu vaccine, according to the report.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2010)