Latvia reports first swine flu death

The woman died in hospital on Monday, said a spokeswoman at the Pauls Stradins University Hospital in Riga.

Latvia on Monday reported its first swine flu death in a woman who developed respiratory problems linked to the virus, health officials said.

The woman died in hospital on Monday, said a spokeswoman at the Pauls Stradins University Hospital in Riga. The country's epidemiology centre confirmed it was Latvia's first death due to the A(H1N1) virus.

Jazeps Keiss, the centre's interim director, told a press conference that the woman caught the virus during a visit to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad at the end of October.

- She fell ill after her return. It's clear that she became infected in Kaliningrad as it corresponds to the incubation period for this (type of) flu - Keiss said.

On Friday, World Health Organisation data showed the number of swine flu deaths had grown by more than 370 over a week to pass 6,000, as the pandemic spread into more than 199 countries and territories.