With the number of swine flu deaths doubling over the past few weeks, health officials the world over are pulling out all stops to halt the spread of the virus. In Europe, for example, school officials are extending students’ summer vacations; in several Muslim nations, authorities are telling pregnant women not to attend the hajj, and China is quarantining hundreds of foreign students, The Associated Press reports. The fact that the death toll from the H1N1 virus has risen from 330 in early July to its current level of 700 is reason enough for a new round of dramatic measures, officials say. “We expect to see more cases and deaths in the future,” World Health Organization spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told The Associated Press in Geneva. While the group offered no breakdown of deaths, last week, the United States reported 263 deaths, Canada had 45 deaths and Britain had 29. According to WHO’s last update on July 6, Mexico reported 119 deaths. The fear among experts, however, is that the seemingly astronomical figure of 700 deaths may be far fewer than the actual number of those who’ve died from the virus. “The race is now on to develop and produce a vaccine that is effective against the global swine flu strain, but estimates for when such a jab will be available range from September to December,” according to AP.

TAGS: death toll, H1N1 virus, swine flu, vaccine

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