MOSCOW, June 8 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 25,288 cases of swine flu resulting in 139 deaths have been officially confirmed in 73 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report published on Monday.
The number of those infected grew by 3,348 over the weekend, the death toll has increased by 14.
The WHO's International Health Regulations (IHR) Committee decided last Friday not to declare the virus as having gone to full-scale pandemic level.
The organization said in mid-May that about 4.9 million single doses of the A/H1N1 vaccine could be annually produced worldwide, while up to one third of the world's population could become infected in the case of a global pandemic.
Despite the dramatic media reports that accompanied the recent outbreak of A/H1N1 or swine flu, leading scientists say the virus is a mild strain and only a further mutation would make it a serious threat. Swine flu death rates are around the norm for seasonal flu fatalities.
