Brazil registers 221 H1N1 flu deaths in 2012

The number of deaths caused by the H1N1 flu in Brazil this year rose to 221, according to an official report released on Thursday.

Most of the deaths occurred in three states of the southern region -- Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Parana, said the Brazilian Health Ministry in the report.

It said that there was a reduction in the number of deaths in recent weeks, which indicated that the peak of the disease had already passed.

The government reaffirmed that Brazil's hospitals had been supplied with sufficient amounts of Tamiflu, a drug used to treat the H1N1 flu.

In addition, the country had launched a large vaccination campaign, which ended in June, targeting more fragile groups, such as pregnant women, elders, children aged six months to two years, and patients with chronic diseases.

The death toll registered in 2012 in Brazil represents about 10 percent of the death tally registered in 2009, when 2,060 people died of the disease.

The pandemic was officially declared ended by the World Health Organization in 2010.