By DPA,
Stockholm : The number of global cases of the new influenza A (H1N1) virus has topped 7,700, according to figures released Friday by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
The pan-European agency tallied 7,709 global cases, including 234 in Europe.
The US reported 4,298 cases, including probable cases, the ECDC said.
In Panama the number of cases rose to 39. Colombia had 10, Brazil and Costa Rica each had eight cases, El Salvador had four, while Cuba had three cases, according to the ECDC.
From the Asia and Pacific region, New Zealand raised the number of reported cases to nine.
The influenza has to date claimed 69 lives of which 64 were in Mexico, three in the US, and one in both Canada and Costa Rica, the ECDC said.
In Europe there were 12 new confirmed cases compared to Thursday, raising the number of confirmed cases to 234.
Spain’s 100 reported cases were the same as Thursday while Britain reported seven new cases raising its tally to 78. France (14), Germany (12) and Italy (9) did not report any new cases in the past 24-hour period.
The Netherlands and Belgium each reported new cases of influenza A (H1N1).
In total, 16 countries in Europe have reported cases of the flu virus.