Main developments in the past 24 hours
- US and Canada epidemiological updates included;
- A total of 1 952 fatal cases in Europe and EFTA countries and 11 372 in the rest of the world have been reported up to date;
- Scientific Advance on 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic in indigenous and aboriginal populations of North America and Oceania, including Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands published;
- No newsletters will be produced on Wednesday the 6th of January (Epiphany) which is a Public Holiday in Sweden and also observed by ECDC.
This report is based on official information provided by national public health websites or through other official communication channels. Reported number of confirmed 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) cases admitted to hospitals and intensive care, by country, as of 05 January 2010, 14.00 CEST in EU and EFTA countries are in Table 1. An update on the number of confirmed fatal cases for the world and Europe is presented in Table 2.
Epidemiologic update
All 27 EU and 4 EFTA countries are reporting cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza. A total of 1 952 deaths have been reported since April 2009 (Table 2). From week 41 to 51 the numbers of deaths each had shown a steady increase almost doubling every fortnight over six weeks. The fall observed in weeks 52 and 53 was to be expected as it represents official reports placed on national web-sites and a number of Member States have not been doing this in what was a holiday week. While the most deaths have to date been in Western Europe there are increasing numbers of deaths being reported from Central and Eastern Europe. The reported cumulative fatal pandemic (H1N1) cases in the world have now passed 10,000 cases (Table 2). However, because of lack of laboratory confirmation and underreporting among other factors, this is likely to be a gross underestimation of the true number of fatalities associated with the pandemic. Available updates on hospital admissions, per Member State, can be found in Table 1.