Stockholm - The number of confirmed novel influenza A(H1N1) cases worldwide topped 1,160 on Tuesday, according to tallies released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Mexico, the United States and Canada still accounted for the bulk of all cases, Denis Coloumbier, head of the ECDC preparedness and response unit, said at a briefing.

In Mexico there were 727 confirmed cases and 26 deaths, the United States had 280 confirmed cases including one death, while Canada had 140 confirmed cases, he said.

Compared to Monday, an additional 137 confirmed cases were reported by Mexico, 53 new cases by the US and 39 by Canada.

Cases were also reported from seven other countries.

In Europe there were 107 confirmed cases of which about half - or 57 - were reported from Spain. Britain had 27 confirmed cases and six probable cases while Germany had nine confirmed cases, the ECDC said.

The ECDC was "confident" that its figures reflected what the member states were seeing, Coloumbier said.

In all, 12 countries in Europe have confirmed or probable cases. but expected a "substantial increase" as more suspected cases are confirmed by laboratory tests, the ECDC said.

The ECDC with headquarters in Sweden began to operate in 2005, and groups the bloc as well as several non-EU members. (dpa)