World Health Organisation (WHO) laboratories have confirmed 4,694 infections with the new strain of H1N1 flu, which the United Nations agency said on Monday has killed at least 53 people. Its official tally, which tends to lag national reports but is considered more secure, includes 48 deaths in the disease epicentre Mexico, three deaths in the United States, and one each in Canada and Costa Rica.
A total of 30 countries have had infections with the new flu strain that is a genetic mixture of swine, bird and human viruses. Mexico has had 1,626 laboratory-confirmed cases, the United States has had 2,532, and Canada has had 284. Costa Rica has had 8 laboratory-confirmed confirmed cases. The latest WHO figures include two cases in Norway, which had not previously figured on the global map for the disease, and a jump in cases from three to 15 in Panama. The WHO also confirmed one case in mainland China, adding to one previously reported in Hong Kong.
Evidence that the disease popularly known as swine flu has taken hold in communities outside of the Americas would prompt WHO chief Margaret Chan to declare a full pandemic is underway. Chan, a former Hong Kong health director, has already raised the global pandemic alert level to 5 out of 6 in response to the spread of H1N1 flu. Phase 5 means a pandemic is imminent.
The European countries with the largest number of confirmed cases to date are Spain (95) and Britain (47). Other European states with H1N1 infections are France (13), Germany (11), Italy (9), Netherlands (3), Ireland (1), Portugal (1), Austria (1), Denmark (1), Sweden (2), Switzerland (1) and Poland (1).
The WHO also confirmed these infections in the rest of the world: Israel (7), Brazil (8), New Zealand (7), Japan (4), South Korea (3), Panama (15), El Salvador (4), China (2), Guatemala (1), Colombia (3), Argentina (1), Australia (1).
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