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Cuba announces first swine flu deaths
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| Published on Saturday, October 10, 2009 | Email To Friend Print Version
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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- Cuba announced that three pregnant women died after contracting swine flu, the first report of A(H1N1) casualties on the communist island.
"We unfortunately have to regret three confirmed cases of people who died" of swine flu, Deputy Health Minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda said on a television news program.
He did not say when the three women died.
According to government officials, the number of confirmed H1N1 cases in the country stands at 621 people, including 177 children.
National Epidemiology Director Manuel Santin said around 30 percent of the cases were "imported" by tourism to the island, which hosts 2.5 million visitors a year.
According to the latest World Health Organisation figures, at least 4,525 people have died from swine flu infections since the virus was uncovered in April.
This is an increase of 417 fatal cases from a week ago when 4,108 deaths were recorded, the UN health agency said in its weekly update of the pandemic.
Most deaths occurred in the Americas region, where 3,292 fatalities have been reported. | | | | Reads : 912 | | | |
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