The total number of laboratory-confirmed human infections of swine flu has increased to 79, with the most recent cases reported in Britain and New Zealand, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Of those cases, 40 are reported from the United States, 26 from Mexico, six from Canada, two from Spain, two from Britain, and three from New Zealand, Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's interim assistant director-general for health security, told a teleconference for the media.

So far there have been seven deaths caused by the infection, all reported from Mexico, Fukuda said.

He added that all the new cases confirmed in Britain and New Zealand involved travelers returning from Mexico, indicating that they were not locally infected.

On Monday, the WHO reported a total of 73 laboratory-confirmed cases.