H1N1 flu has now reached Cuba, Finland and Thailand, with nearly 6,000 people infected in 33 countries, the World Health Organisation (Who) said today.
In its latest tally, which lags national reports but is considered more reliable, the Who said the number of infections had also risen in countries including Spain, Britain, Panama, Guatemala and Colombia.
The recently-discovered strain has killed at least 56 people in Mexico, three people in the United States and one each in Canada and Costa Rica, according to the Who count.
Mexico's health ministry said today it had confirmed 60 deaths from the hybrid strain, which scientists say contains a mixture of swine, bird and human flu viruses.
The disease has caused relatively mild symptoms in most patients outside North America, many of whom have been able to recover fully without antiviral drugs.
But Who Director-General Margaret Chan has raised the flu alert level to 5 out of 6 to reflect concern about the way in which the virus has been spreading, because it could mutate and prove deadly among people with no immunity to it.
She is looking for evidence the hybrid strain is spreading in a sustained way in communities outside the Americas before raising that alert to 6 and declaring a pandemic is under way.
According to the latest Who count, Spain has 98 confirmed cases and Britain has 68.
While most of those infections have been deemed "imported", as a result of people travelling to Mexico or being in close contact with those who had, evidence that the virus is spreading in a sustained way in Britain or Spain would prompt the Who to declare a full pandemic.
The Who will hold a teleconference with vaccine experts tomorrow on whether to recommend shifting production to vaccines to fight the new strain, or to keep focusing on vaccines for seasonal flu, which kills up to 500,000 people a year.
Mexico has 2,059 infections confirmed in Who labs, the United States 3,009, Canada 358 and Costa Rica 8.
Other countries have the following number of Who-confirmed flu cases without deaths: Argentina (1), Australia (1), Austria (1), Brazil (8), Britain (68), China (3, comprising 1 in Hong and 2 in mainland China), Colombia (6), Cuba (1), Denmark (1), El Salvador (4), Finland (2), France (13), Germany (12), Guatemala (3), Ireland (1), Israel (7), Italy (9), Japan (4), Netherlands (3), New Zealand (7), Norway (2), Panama (29), Poland (1), Portugal (1), South Korea (3), Spain (98), Sweden (2), Switzerland (1) and Thailand (2).
Reuters