Mexico City  - Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos said late Monday that number of people dying from an infection with a mutated swine flu virus rose slower than expected.

Six people died on Saturday, five on Sunday and three on Monday, Cordova said. The number of new infections was also slowing down, from 145 registered new cases to 110 in the past 24 hours.

An estimated 149 people have died from influenza as of Monday, but only 26 deaths have so far been linked to the H1N1 swine flu virus. Cordova did not update these figures when speaking to the press Monday evening.

In the United States, 40 cases were confirmed, as were infections in New Zealand and Spain, but no deaths have resulted so far from those cases.

Mexico on Monday closed schools and universities until May 6 and limited commercial activity in the capital to stop the spread of the illness.

The World Health Organization (WHO) raised its pandemic alert level for influenza to phase 4 in response to the H1N1 swine flu outbreak's rapid spread, but did not recommend restrictions on travel. (dpa)