Mexico City  - The number of dead in Mexico's epidemic of a hitherto-unknown strain of flu rose to 44 Thursday, as two more cases were confirmed by laboratory tests, Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos said. The total number of infections with the new A(H1N1) virus stood at 1,204.

The authorities said the latest cases did not correspond to new deaths from the virus, instead pinpointing the cause of earlier deaths, and stressed that the number of new infections is falling by the day.

This trend has allowed for a restoration of normal life in the country, albeit with certain restrictions as to the number of people allowed to attend public events.

The death toll had reached 29 by Tuesday, with a total of 840 infections, and it shot to 42 Wednesday, as more laboratory results were obtained.

Mexico - with 159 flu deaths in recent weeks - was the epicentre of the outbreak of the so-called swine flu that also heavily affected the United States, where at least two people have died and 642 people were infected.

Globally, the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) late Wednesday put the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of the influenza A(H1N1) virus rose to 1,893 in 23 countries. WHO's numbers usually lag behind the sum of individual country reports.

The virus combines genes from human, swine and bird flu in a hitherto unknown way, making public health officials nervous because there is no immunity or vaccine yet against the illness.