Death toll from swine flu grows to 764 in Brazil

A total of 764 people have died of H1N1 influenza virus, also known as swine flu, in Brazil so far this year, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday.

This epidemic has claimed 85 lives in the last week across the country, far outpacing the 36 deaths from the virus registered in all of 2015, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 3,978 cases of the severe respiratory infection have also been registered this year, as opposed to just 141 last year.

According to the Ministry of Health, 460 new cases have been discovered last week.

Among the casualty, 352 have died in the country's most populous state of Sao Paulo alone, making up 45.7 per cent of the total.

In order to stop the rising number of victims, the government is launching a vaccination campaign, which aims to inoculate around 50 million people, particularly among vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, children and the elderly.