The WHO also said flu activity was "above the seasonal baseline" in the United States and that it has reached epidemic levels in France and Japan.
Transmission is rife in central and south America and Asia, it added, while in temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere, such as Australia and South Africa, flu activity is declining.
SHOOT: So the official line is that swine flu is big in South America, but not big in Africa. Is that right? 99 deaths on the African continent and close to 3000 in South America. I think the reality is the data is fuzzy because it is so widespread that we have stopped counting. Wiki continues to count at least the media reports of deaths. The world total is edging towards 5000.
Wiki: By far, the most affected country has been Chile, with more than 12,000 confirmed cases, 104 deaths, and the highest per capita incidence in the world.
"Current supplies of pandemic vaccine are inadequate for a world population in which virtually everyone is susceptible to infection by a new and readily contagious virus," WHO director general Margaret Chan said in a statement.
Despite new evidence that only one dose of the vaccines currently being tested will be enough for most people, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said output next year will be "substantially less" than the 4.9 billion doses annual production forecast.
Some 25 pharmaceutical laboratories working on vaccines have indicated that weekly production is lower than 94 million doses, he said.
The UN agency said the Americas region still has the highest death toll, at 2,625. The Asia-Pacific reported 620 fatalities, while Europe recorded at least 140 deaths. In the Middle East, 61 people succumbed to the virus while in Africa, 40 people have died from it.
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