Two men have died of swine flu in northern Spain, where an outbreak of the H1N1 virus has left over 40 people in hospital, officials said Tuesday.

Laboratory tests confirmed that the virus killed a 62-year-old man, who died Saturday in a hospital in Cantabria, the regional government said.

A 76-year-old victim, who had been suffering from other unspecified diseases, died at a hospital in Zaragoza in the region of Aragon where he was being treated for the H1N1 virus, a government spokeswoman for the region said.

Another 43 people who have tested positive for the H1N1 flu virus are receiving treatment in hospitals in Aragon, including 18 who are in intensive care, she added.

All of those who are infected with the virus had not received flu shots and they all suffered from chronic disease that had already weakened, regional health minister Ricardo Olivan told reporters.

The World Health Organisation declared the swine flu pandemic over in August 2010, more than a year after the H1N1 virus that emerged from Mexico sparked panic and killed thousands of people around the world.