The H1N1 flu epidemic is probably peaking because the estimated number of new patients has fallen for a second consecutive week, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Friday.

New swine flu cases fell to 1.32 million in the week to Sunday after 131,972 patients were reported to have visited the roughly 5,000 medical institutions covered by the survey. The drop brought the average number of new patients per institution to 27.39 from 31.82 the previous week, the institute said.

The cumulative number of flu patients since early July, most of which are believed to have H1N1, now stands at an estimated 15.46 million, it said.