THE death toll from swine flu cases in Trinidad and Tobago has risen to five, while the number of people confirmed to have contracted the virus has reached 210.

These were the latest figures disclosed by the Health Ministry yesterday, even as news surfaced of a sixth swine flu-related death at the San Fernando General Hospital.

While the Ministry has not yet confirmed if a police officer, who was being treated for the virus, did in fact die from the Influenza A/ H1N1 virus, it has said that 57 per cent of these cases fall within the 0-19 age group and 37 per cent within the 20-49 age range, while males and females seemed to be equally affected by the virus.

’It is important to note that the persons who passed away presented respiratory distress when admitted at the hospital and had serious underlying risk factors. It is also important to note that apart from these deaths, the rest of the H1N1 cases treated in our country were relatively mild and the persons returned to their normal activities within seven to ten days,’ the statement read.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said international experience of the H1N1 pandemic to date, especially from the southern hemisphere, has shown that poor clinical outcomes, such as deaths, are associated with ’delays in seeking health care and limited access to supportive care’.

WHO added that the virus has shown its ability to cause rapidly progressive overwhelming lung disease. A disease, they say is difficult to treat.

Throughout several regions in Ukraine, there have been an increased number of hospital admissions and fatalities due to the increasingly high levels of acute respiratory illness and influenza-like illness.

According to reports obtained from the international media, the government ordered that the nation’s schools be closed for a week to avoid the further spread of swine flu and suggested that nightclubs, cinemas and food markets also be shut down.

Globally, there have been more than 440,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of the pandemic Influenza H1N1 virus and over 5,700 deaths reported to WHO.