A Jordanian woman has died of swine flu in the second such death in a week, Health Minister Abdullatif Wreikat said on Sunday.

"The woman, who was in her forties, was taken to hospital last Sunday, suffering from pneumonia," Wreikat told the official news agency Petra.

"The woman was given necessary treatment after tests showed H1N1 infection but she died on Friday," he added.

In 2009, an epidemic of H1N1 swine flu erupted in Mexico and spread into a worldwide pandemic that caused at least 17,000 deaths. The World Health Organisation declared it over in August 2010.

On January 6, a 26-year-old man died of the virus, which has killed 25 people in Jordan in recent years.