Mexico finds 1,341 new H1N1 flu cases since Monday thereby making the total to 26,338, ahead of the usual autumn flu season, health officials said.

The death toll reached 218 in the country, after one more person died from the A(H1N1) virus between Monday and Thursday, where the virus first emerged in April before becoming a pandemic, Health Ministry said.

World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 296,471 known cases of infection and the death toll across the globe has reached 3,486.

The UN agency reported the American region has the highest death toll of 2,625. The Asia-Pacific region reported 620 fatalities, with 140 deaths in Europe. In the Middle East, 61 people succumbed to the virus where in Africa 40 people have died

Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova estimated in late August that, among the total population of 100 million in Mexico, nearly one million people could be infected by the virus during the winter season.