A 20-year-old Moroccan woman has died at a Madrid hospital, becoming Spains first swine flu fatality, the Gregorio Maranon hospital announced Tuesday.

The woman, who suffered from asthma, died at dawn of a respiratory illness provoked by the AH1N1 flu, said a health ministry statement.

The woman, who was seven-months pregnant when she arrived at the hospital, had been receiving treatment for several days.

When her condition deteriorated Monday, doctors carried out a Caesarean delivery of the baby, who was in good health and unaffected by the virus, said the ministry statement.

“Health Minister Trinidad Jimenz will give a press conference to announce the death of the young woman,” said a hospital spokeswoman.

According to the latest health ministry figures, issued on Tuesday, 717 people have been infected with the AH1N1 virus in Spain since it first appeared.

One other patient is being treated in a hospital in Catalonia, northwest Spain, and is in a serious condition.

Spain was the first European country to confirm a case of the AH1N1 virus.

The latest global figures issued by the World Health Organisation on Monday gave the number of recorded swine flu cases as 70,893 worldwide, with 311 deaths, since the outbreak started in late March.

But some countries are no longer keeping track of all cases recorded.

And US health officials have said that while their official figures record 27,717 cases including 127 deaths, the real figure was probably at least a million — 50 times more than actually reported.

via France 24 | Young woman is first to die of lethal flu in Spain | France 24.