* WHO says 4,694 people infected with H1N1 flu worldwide

* Death toll rises to 53, including five outside Mexico

* Confirms two cases in Norway, one in Chinese mainland

* Panama infections increase from 3 to 15

(Adds latest WHO figures)

GENEVA, May 11 (Reuters) - World Health Organisation (WHO)
laboratories have confirmed 4,694 infections with the new strain
of H1N1 flu, which the United Nations agency said on Monday has
killed at least 53 people.

Its official tally, which tends to lag national reports but
is considered more secure, includes 48 deaths in the disease
epicentre Mexico, three deaths in the United States, and one
each in Canada and Costa Rica.

A total of 30 countries have had infections with the new flu
strain that is a genetic mixture of swine, bird and human
viruses. Mexico has had 1,626 laboratory-confirmed cases, the
United States has had 2,532, and Canada has had 284. Costa Rica
has had 8 laboratory-confirmed confirmed cases.

The latest WHO figures include two cases in Norway, which
had not previously figured on the global map for the disease,
and a jump in cases from three to 15 in Panama. The WHO also
confirmed one case in mainland China, adding to one previously
reported in Hong Kong.

Evidence that the disease popularly known as swine flu has
taken hold in communities outside of the Americas would prompt
WHO chief Margaret Chan to declare a full pandemic is underway.

Chan, a former Hong Kong health director, has already raised
the global pandemic alert level to 5 out of 6 in response to the
spread of H1N1 flu. Phase 5 means a pandemic is imminent.

The European countries with the largest number of confirmed
cases to date are Spain (95) and Britain (47).

Other European states with H1N1 infections are France (13),
Germany (11), Italy (9), Netherlands (3), Ireland (1), Portugal
(1), Austria (1), Denmark (1), Sweden (2), Switzerland (1) and
Poland (1).

The WHO also confirmed these infections in the rest of the
world: Israel (7), Brazil (8), New Zealand (7), Japan (4), South
Korea (3), Panama (15), El Salvador (4), China (2), Guatemala
(1), Colombia (3), Argentina (1), Australia (1).