As of 13 June, worldwide more than 214 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 18172 deaths. WHO is actively monitoring the progress of the pandemic through frequent consultations with the WHO Regional Offices and Member States and through monitoring of multiple sources of information.

The UNWTO has called upon the travel and tourism industry to be extra vigilant against swine flu over the next few months with the arrival of the flu season in the northern hemisphere. But the tourism body underscored that travel limitations would not limit the spread of the virus because it is already “the dominant influenza strain in most parts of the world”.

Mexico City has begun offering tourists free insurance for tourists in a bid to lure back visitors scared by swine flu, which broke out in Mexico in April.

A woman has died in a Scottish hospital becoming the first person outside the Americas to have been killed by the Swine flu virus.The patient was last night identified as a 38-year-old woman from Glasgow, who had prematurely given birth in recent days. She had been in intensive care at the Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley, where a large number of those infected with the H1N1 virus have been treated. Health officials said earlier today that nearly 500 people in Scotland had been diagnosed with the virus, with a majority in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

The number of swine flu cases in the Caribbean grew over the weekend, with Jamaica adding to the list.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) emphasised that airlines are prepared for the heightened level of alert following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) decision to move to Phase 5 of its pandemic preparedness plan.