Mexico Encouraged By Fall In New Flu Cases

Mexico's government has raised its confirmed death toll from a deadly flu strain to 15 and said 328 people are infected after tests on hundreds of suspect patients.

A doctor in Mexico talks to a mother as her child is tested for swine flu

It comes as Mexico began a five-day shutdown of most offices and businesses in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.

Earlier, officials said they were encouraged by indications the number of new cases was dropping.

"Fortunately the virus is not so aggressive - it's not a case of avian flu, which had a mortality rate of nearly 70%," Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.

He said the new figure did not represent new cases but was the result of testing and analysis of a backlog of "probable" cases.

Speaking earlier, the minister had said the number of patients being admitted to public hospitals was down to 46 people on Thursday compared to 212 patients on April 20.

"This is encouraging," he said.

President Felipe Calderonasked Mexicans to stay home over the long Cinco de Mayo holiday and urged businesses to close.

"There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus," he said.

The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent materials for a quick diagnostic test to Mexico so scientists there can quickly screen people for the new flu.

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The centre's Dr Richard Besser said test kits were also en route to health departments in all US states to speed up surveillance.

Mr Cordova said tests from samples sent to laboratories in the United States, Canada and Mexico have only confirmed 12 out of 176 deaths blamed on the H1N1 swine flu virus.

"The number of confirmed fatalities will probably rise," he added.

Of 679 patient samples checked by the labs, 312 samples have tested positive for H1N1 swine flu, and 300 of those cases are patients who have survived, some after treatment with antiviral drugs, he added.

Normal seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people around the globe in an average year, including about 36,000 in the United States.

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Worldwide, 11 countries have reported confirmed cases of the H1N1 strain, with the Netherlands the latest to join the list and 17 more countries checking possible cases.

Denmark and Hong Kong have reported their first confirmed cases.

And as new cases were reported in Canada, the USand Europe, Germany confirmed its first case of person-to-person transmission of the virus.

The health ministry said a woman was infected after coming into contact with one of three people previously announced to have swine flu in Germany.

Her case brings the total of confirmed cases in the country to four. The woman has already made a full recovery, the ministry added.

Almost all infections outside Mexico have been mild and only a handful of patients have required hospital treatment, with one US death.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would remain for now at its current alert level - one step below full pandemic.

It has increased its tally of confirmed swine flu cases around the world to 331 from 257.

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The WHO said it will stop using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs.

It will instead refer to the virus by its scientific name: H1N1 influenza A.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the United States would spend $251m (£170m) to buy 13 million more courses of flu medicine.

The United States is sending 400,000 doses of treatment to Mexico.