WHO confirms 257 swine flu cases worldwide -- china.org.cn

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday confirmed a total of 257 human infections of swine flu, which were officially reported from 11 countries.

As the swine flu situation continues to get worse, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday raised the pandemic alert level to Phase 5, indicating that a full pandemic is imminent.

A woman wears a mask while taking subway train in New York, the United States, April 29, 2009. [Xinhua]

Of those cases, 109 were from the United States, including one death, and 97 were from Mexico, including seven deaths, the UN agency said in a latest update.

Countries that have reported laboratory-confirmed cases with no deaths include Austria (1), Canada (19), Germany (3), Israel (2), the Netherlands (1), New Zealand (3), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and Britain (8).

The WHO stressed that the situation continued to evolve rapidly and it would renew its tally on a regular basis.

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2009)