A total of 74 countries and regions have officially reported 27,737 cases of the A/H1N1 flu inflection, including 141 deaths, as of Wednesday, the latest World Health Organization (WHO) tally shows.

Venezuela announced that the number of A/H1N1 flu cases in the country has reached 25.

The infected people are under treatment, Health Minister Jesus Mantilla said.

Ecuadorian health authorities said the number of influenza A/H1N1 cases has risen to 67 in the country, but the situation is under control.

The Health Ministry said most of the infected patients were people who recently traveled to the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Argentina.

Among all the confirmed cases, 55 were detected in Guayaquil, five in Quito, three in Machala, three in Cuenca and one in Portoviejo.

The ministry said 31 others are under medical observation to verify if they have infected the epidemic.

Vice Minister Marcelo Aguilar said the health system has 70,000 anti-viral treatments to fight the pandemic in the country.

The Uruguayan Public Health Ministry confirmed 5 new cases of influenza A/H1N1, raising the infection toll in the country to 32.

The authorities said one of the new patients is from Maldonado department in the southeast of the country, while the other four are from the capital Montevideo.

Canada added 533 new cases of A/H1N1 flu on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing the total to 2,978, the latest figures released by the Public Health Agency of Canada showed.

The province of Ontario alone added 339 new cases, bringing the province's total to 1,562, which is by far the most among the provinces.

Other provinces that are seriously hit by the flu are Quebec (611), Saskatchewan (221), Alberta (195) and British Columbia (151).

Britain's Department of Health confirmed 43 new cases of A/H1N1 flu infections, with the total number of cases in the country reaching 750.

A Department of Health statement said 42 of the newly-confirmed cases were from England and one from Northern Ireland. The new national total also included 32 cases in Scotland announced later on Tuesday by the Scottish government.

Testing of the A/H1N1 flu virus is now carried out by the Health Protection Agency's regional network of laboratories.

To date, 477 cases have been confirmed in England, 264 in Scotland, seven in Northern Ireland and two in Wales.

A European health agency said 91 new A/H1N1 flu cases were reported in European countries within the last 24 hours.

Of the new cases, 75 were confirmed in Britain, eight in Germany, two each in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, and one each in Ireland, Romania, Greece and Iceland, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its daily situation report.

Philippine health authorities reported that there have been 23 newly-confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases, bringing the total to 77 in the country.

The Mexican Health Ministry announced the country's death toll from the outbreak of A/H1N1 influenza has reached 108 and the total number of infected people has hit 6,241.

According to the ministry, most of the confirmed cases were from Mexico City, followed by San Luis Potosi and the State of Mexico.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2009)