Swine flu death toll rises to 83 in South Africa, infection rate 4th highest in the world

by Nick van der Leek

While South Africa's official pandemic website was last updated more than a week ago, the death toll has jumped from 59 t0 83 in recent days, putting South Africa's fatality figure in the world's top 10.

The incidence rate per 100 000 is 23.41 for South Africa is the fourth highest in the world, behind Macau [46.89], Hong Kong [34.98] and Brunei [28.71] and ahead of Australia [17.0] . The world's average is currently 0.6.

Of the top five territories, three - the United States, Mexico and India - show disturbing increasing trends in transmission, both on a widespread national basis and on a regional basis.

Brazil leads the world with swine flu fatalities at 1,112, while the world total is currently at 4,755. These numbers are generally assumed to be much higher.

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