To date Australia is the worst-hit country in the Asia-Pacific region and in the midst of the southern hemisphere's traditional winter flu season, Australia cases have now topped 10,000 but experts warn that the real number could be much higher.

Australia with 10,387 confirmed swine flu cases now has more than 10% of the global total confirmed by the World Health Organization and Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the real number could be much higher, as mild cases are not being tested.

Ms Roxon says currently 123 people are hospitalised with swine flu and 58 of those are in intensive care - to date swine flu has been linked to the deaths of 20 Australians most of whom had underlying serious health issues - however there is some concern as in a few cases the disease has now started to severely affect otherwise healthy people.

The latest tally from the WHO says 94,512 cases of A(H1N1) influenza have been reported, causing 429 deaths.