The World Health Organization says more than 1,000 cases of
the swine influenza A-H1N1 have been confirmed in 20 countries.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan reported the latest details on swine flu's
spread as she briefed the U.N. General Assembly (Monday) via video link
from Geneva.
Despite the rise in confirmed flu cases worldwide, authorities in Mexico, the
country where the swine flu outbreak began, say the virus is in decline there.
Restaurants and other businesses (in Mexico) that had been closed (in
an attempt to slow the spread of the flu virus) will reopen Wednesday.
The A-H1N1 virus is being identified in more cases daily in the United States,
elsewhere in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
In a newspaper interview (published Monday by London's "Financial
Times"), the WHO chief says it is too early to conclude the swine-flu
danger is passing. Chan warns the new virus could return with renewed intensity
and cause more deaths in the months ahead.
Mexico has reported 25 confirmed deaths from the new virus, while the United
States has one.