According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and some local more up-to-date reports, the total number of confirmed human cases of swine flu A(H1N1) infection has exceeded 21,000, including 125 deaths in Mexico, USA, Canada, Chile and Costa Rica. If these figures are accurate, that would be 1 death per 168 cases.

Experts say this novel virus is no more deadly than ordinary seasonal human flu. It is very hard to have an accurate number for the total number of human infections because many infected people would have stayed at home and self-treated, as some people with ordinary flu do. Doctors believe figures for the number of deaths is probably less vague because deaths are recorded.

The Word Health Organization numbers below will not be as up-to-date as those published by the local health authorities in each country. The figures that appear in brackets below come from the specific country’s health department.

  • Mexico – total cases 5563, total deaths 103 (5717 cases, 106 deaths – Sec. de Salud)
  • USA – total cases 11054, total deaths 17 (13,217 cases, 27 deaths – CDC)
  • Canada – total cases 1795, total deaths 3 (2115 cases, 3 deaths – Health Canada)
  • Chile – total cases 369, total deaths 1
  • Costa Rica – total cases 68, total deaths 1

  • Australia – total cases 876 (1020 – Dept. of Health)
  • UK – total cases 428 (486 – Dept. of Health)
  • Japan – total cases 410
  • Spain – total cases 218 (291 – Min. de Salud)
  • Panama – total cases 173
  • Argentina – total cases 147

  • China – total cases 89
  • El Salvador – total cases 49
  • France – total cases 47
  • Peru – total cases 47
  • Ecuador – total cases 43
  • Germany – total cases 43
  • Korea Rep – total cases 41

  • Israel – total cases 39
  • Italy – total cases 38
  • Honduras – total cases 34
  • Dominican Rep – total cases 33
  • Philippines – total cases 29
  • Brazil – total cases 28
  • Colombia – total cases 24
  • Guatemala – total cases 23

  • Kuwait – total cases 18
  • Uruguay – total cases 15
  • Belgium – total cases 13
  • Sweden – total cases 13
  • Singapore – total cases 12
  • New Zealand – total cases 11
  • Switzerland – total cases 10

  • Norway – total cases 9
  • Ireland – total cases 8 (9 – Dept. of Health)
  • Romania – total cases 8
  • Thailand – total cases 8
  • Turkey – total cases 8
  • Greece – total cases 5
  • Nicaragua – total cases 5
  • Paraguay – total cases 5
  • Cuba – total cases 4
  • Denmark – total cases 4
  • Finland – total cases 4
  • India – total cases 4
  • Netherlands – total cases 4
  • Poland – total cases 4
  • Venezuela – total cases 4

  • Bolivia – total cases 3
  • Estonia – total cases 3
  • Hungary – total cases 3
  • Lebanon – total cases 3
  • Russia – total cases 3
  • Slovakia – total cases 3
  • Viet Nam – total cases 3
  • Austria – total cases 2
  • Czech Rep – total cases 2
  • Jamaica – total cases 2
  • Malaysia – total cases 2
  • Portugal – total cases 2

  • Bahamas – total cases 1
  • Bahrain – total cases 1
  • Barbados – total cases 1
  • Bulgaria – total cases 1
  • Cyprus – total cases 1
  • Egypt – total cases 1
  • Iceland – total cases 1
  • Luxembourg – total cases 1
  • S. Arabia – total cases 1

    • Grand Total – total cases 21940, total deaths 125

There is a general feeling throughout Mexico that current WHO guidelines for dealing with ‘potential’ pandemic viruses are completely out of proportion to the economic damage they can cause, and have caused. For a period of about one month vast parts of the Mexican economy were shut down, retails sales dropped drastically, and unemployment rocketed – as a result of measures taken by the government to stem the spread of the infection. It is now evident that a sizeable chunk of that ‘temporary’ unemployment has become much more long term because so many businesses have completely collapsed. The influx of foreign tourism, such a crucial source of foreign income and jobs, completely dried up for about two months. Add to this the current global financial crisis, and you have a very serious economic problem in a country of limited resources. A Mexican shokeeper in Cancun said to me “This reminds me of the ambulance that races through crowded streets at top speed because there is a critical patient who needs urgent treatment. They get the patient there in time, but run over six people on the way.”

Written by Christian Nordqvist