Mexico City - The number of dead in Mexico's influenza epidemic of the new virus A(H1N1) has reached 56, Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos said Monday.

Confirmed infections had also increased, to 2,059, particularly in and around Mexico City, he said.

Cordova Villalobos said in a press conference that statistics for both confirmed and suspected cases of the new flu are in a downward trend, following a peak with 281 new infections in just one day on April 26.

Lessons started again Monday in Mexico's daycare centres and primary schools, following a suspension that had lasted since April 26. Cordova Villalobos said the authorities hope that preventive measures will prevent a further increase in the rate of infection.

Cordova Villalobos noted that an average of 9,500 people die of pneumonia in Mexico every year, even in the absence of the new virus.

Earlier Monday, the World Health Organization Monday there had been 4,694 cases of the A(H1N1) infection, including 53 deaths, confirmed in 30 countries.

WHO statistics, which typically lag behind national numbers, listed Mexico with 48 deaths from 1,626 laboratory-confirmed human cases of infection. The United States had 2,532 infections, including three deaths, and Canada reported 284 cases, with one death. Costa Rica was hit with eight instances of the virus, including one death.

In Europe, Spain was most affected, with 95 cases of what is also known as swine flu, and Britain had 47 infections, the health agency said on its website.