BUENOS AIRES – Argentine Health Minister Juan Manzur confirmed Wednesday that so far 70 people have died in the country from the AH1N1 flu virus.

In Congress to report on the country’s health situation to the leaders of the political blocs in the Senate, Manzur nevertheless did not mention the unofficial death toll, which stands at 79.

“Up until (Tuesday) afternoon, the (number of) patients who have died and who have been diagnosed with the presence of the A flu virus is 70. There are patients who died earlier and we’re awaiting the diagnosis” of those cases, he said.

Because of the pandemic, Buenos Aires and most of Argentina’s 23 provinces have declared a health emergency, school classes have been suspended for a month, theaters decided to close for 10 days and public activities have been restricted nationwide.

Business consultancy Orlando Ferreres y Asociados estimates Argentina’s losses from the swine flu at 3 billion pesos ($789.4 million) over the past two weeks and that figure could double over the next 30 days.

The government ordered a “health furlough” next Friday for public administration employees, but it also invited public and private entities to adhere to the measure.

The number of people infected with the virus could rise to 100,000 nationwide, according to the health minister last week when he succeeded Graciela Ocaña, who stepped down in response to criticism of her handling of the outbreak. EFE