Geneva - The World Health Organization confirmed Monday 985 officially reported cases of the influenza A (H1N1) infection in 20 countries.

Mexico, the UN health agency said, has reported 590 laboratory confirmed cases, including 25 deaths. The United States had 226 confirmed cases, including one death, while Canada reported 85 infections.

Elsewhere in Latin America, El Salvador reported two cases and Colombia and Costa Rica one each. In Europe, 11 nations reported confirmed cases, including 40 in Spain, 15 in Britain and eight in Germany. In Asia, Hong Kong and South Korea each confirmed one case, while Israel said it had three, the only cases in the Middle East.

The higher number of cases from Mexico, the WHO said, reflected ongoing testing of previously collected specimens. UN officials have said last week there was a backlog of thousands of specimens from Mexico waiting to be tested.

The UN has been trying to stress the need for governments and health professionals to stay alert and not get complacent, in spite of evidence showing the virus may not be as bad as originally feared.

Conversely, the WHO has been warning it is too early to say for certain what the nature of the virus will be over time and officials have not ruled out the disease may change for the worse.

Currently, the WHO has kept its influenza pandemic alert at phase 5, which means there is evidence of sustained human to human transmission in at least two countries.

It has maintained its recommendation that eating well-cooked pork is safe and has no advisories on restricting travel, except for those already ill.

People showing flu-like symptoms should see a medical professional. (dpa)