Health minister, Trinidad Jiménez, has admitted that the incidence of the AH1N1 virus is "much lower" than anticipated and that the death rate from the infection is "substantially lower" than that from normal seasonal flu.

Speaking at a dinner in Valencia last night, Jiménez said, "Today, six months after the World Health's Organisation's original warning, we can confirm that there is considerably less concern and less danger than we originally thought."

The minister made it clear that the AH1N1 virus is "more contagious" than seasonal flu at this time of year, but that there are "considerably fewer deaths" being reported from the disease.

Jiménez reassured people that "we can relax" because the information from countries in the southern hemisphere, that have already been through the winter period, confirms that "more people have been infected" but fewer have died than would normally have done from seasonal flu.

This information, added Jiménez, will allow the public health authorities here in Spain to manage the situation now with "much greater calm" and "a better knowledge of the illness", although, she reiterated, "everything is in place to cope with whatever situation may arise, even a worst-case scenario".