TWO CHINESE WOMEN have died from the H1N1 influenza strain (swine flu) in Beijing over the past 10 days, Chinese media has reported.

The deaths of the 65-year-old cancer patient and the 22-year-old migrant worker mark the first fatalities from the virus in the capital since 2010, Reuters reports.

Beijing’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that flu cases are at their highest levels in the past five years, with the H1N1 strain becoming the most dominant.

Meanwhile, H1N1 killed a 26-year-old Jordanian man on Sunday, Health Minister Abdullatif Wreikat confirmed. The 26-year-old died in hospital today in Irbid, in northern Jordan.

“He was taken to the Princess Basma (public) Hospital three days ago suffering from severe pneumonia. Medical tests showed H1N1 infection, which led to the man’s death.”

H1N1 influenza has killed 25 people in Jordan in recent years.

In 2009, an H1N1 epidemic erupted in Mexico and spread into a worldwide pandemic that caused at least 17,000 deaths.

In 1997, the H5N1 strain of influenza, commonly known as bird flu, broke out in Hong Kong.

Spreading from live birds to humans through direct contact, it causes fever and breathing problems and claimed 359 human lives in 15 countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, from 2003 to August of this year, according to the World Health Organisation.

Additional reporting by - © AFP, 2012