79 people have died from swine flu across the world.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed nearly 10,000 cases of swine flu, or Influenza A (H1N1), in 40 countries, with 79 deaths amongst them.

As the pandemic continues, it has emerged today (Tuesday 19 May) that the production of 4.9 billion doses of a swine flu vaccine a year would be possible, according to the Associated Free Press (AFP), present at the 62nd World Health Assembly in Geneva.

This would equate to 94.3 million doses a week if full scale production is launched.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon told the World Health Assembly that “global solidarity” was needed, particularly regarding distributing any vaccine. He said: “We do not yet know how far and how fast it will spread, how serious the illness will be and, indeed, how many lives will be lost.”

WHO Director General Margaret Chan noted that 85% of the burden of chronic diseases was concentrated in low-income and middle-income countries, which meant that the developing world had by far the largest pool of people at risk for severe and fatal H1N1 infections.

She urged the international community to look at everything that could be done to collectively protect developing countries from bearing the brunt of an influenza pandemic.
According to vaccine experts convened by WHO, the swine flu virus is not growing very fast in laboratories, making it difficult for scientists to get the key ingredient they need for a vaccine, the “seed stock” from the virus, the news agency reported.

Previously, WHO officials had estimated that production could start in late May, and would take four to six months. However, drug manufacturers will not be able to start making a swine flu vaccine until mid-July at the earliest now.