The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is waiting for laboratory tests to confirm a second death reportedly attributed to swine flu, in KwaZulu-Natal, NICD director Dr Lucille Blumberg said on Wednesday.

"We are waiting for the test today," said Blumberg.

A KwaZulu-Natal health department spokesperson was not immediately available for comment, but Blumberg said they had received a specimen from a patient who had succumbed to pneumonia.

She hoped to have the result on Wednesday afternoon.

Swine flu ? medically known as the H1N1 virus ? was first recorded in South Africa in the middle of June and the country's first recorded death was that of 22-year-old student Ruan Muller in Stellenbosch last week.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) latest bulletin records that as of July 2009, 168 countries and overseas territories or communities had reported at least one laboratory confirmed case of the pandemic, with all continents affected.

As of 31 July, there were 162 380 recorded cases, although this will have shifted given that Africa's total for that date was 229, but the latest NICD figure for South Africa, supplied on 3 August, was 480.

The WHO reported that 1154 people had died as of that date.

The WHO noted that because it was no longer a requirement to report the virus, numbers might be understated.

Health specialists in South Africa have been at pains to emphasise that most people with the virus recover after a period of rest and that it is only the onset of complications such as respiratory infections that should prompt a visit to a doctor.

Many say the widespread concern over the virus and the reported deaths is due to "media hype", saying that "normal seasonal flu" is far more widespread and can also lead to death.

While saying that a spike in flu cases is normal during South Africa's winter, specialists internationally have also noted that many of the people who died are young "otherwise healthy" people who would ordinarily have recovered from a flu virus.

Pregnant women, diabetics and people with lung problems are identified as being at a higher risk of complications.

The health department has advised people to seek medical attention should they develop any signs such as weakness, severe drowsiness, difficulty breathing, inability to drink fluids and dehydration.