The H1N1 flu virus is spreading most actively in North Africa, South Asia and parts of Europe, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.

Raising its official global death toll from the pandemic to nearly 14,000, the WHO also said that while India's infections may have peaked in December, neighbouring Nepal and Sri Lanka were still experiencing widespread transmission. The WHO said flu activity in Japan, China and Mongolia has been declining since November.

Morocco, Algeria and Egypt are continuing to see active spread of H1N1 flu and some countries in Europe, including Romania, Ukraine, Turkey and Switzerland, are also reporting moderately intense rates of respiratory disease, WHO confirmed.

In the USA, where the virus was first identified last April, infection rates have declined since October although small areas of increased flu activity have occurred in central and northern Mexico. Several countries cut back orders for H1N1 vaccines after it became clear the outbreak, declared a global pandemic by the WHO in June, was not as severe or deadly as first feared.