New York health officials say the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, continues to spread throughout the state.

Officials say there are now 17 probable and confirmed cases outside the city.

In the five boroughs, the city's health department says there are 62 confirmed and 17 probable H1N1 flu cases.

Officials also confirmed the city's first case of the virus not related to Mexico or Saint Francis Prep, the Queens high school at the center of the city's outbreak.

Health officials also have confirmed five cases at PS 177, a special needs school located blocks away from Saint Francis.

On Long Island, the Deer Park school district is shutting down after three probable cases of H1N1 were reported.

"They will close for an undetermined period although we're expecting that the CDC will drop back the time period for closing facilities from 14 days to somewhat less," said Governor David Paterson.

"We're seeing this all over the state, even sparsely populated counties, where clearly the public health and medical establishment are on the alert," said New York State Health Commissioner Richard Daines.

During Sunday's press conference, Paterson also pointed out that the cases in New York have not been as severe as in Mexico, with only two hospitalizations. He said the timing of this outbreak, at the end of the normal flu season, gives officials a chance to prepare for a possible second wave in the future.

"It would give us time hopefully to develop antibodies to create a vaccine but also in some cases in the past the flu has come back stronger and more devastating so this is the reason, we don't want any alarm, that we are maintaining an alert and are spending resources and treating this as a serious situation," said Paterson.

Saint Francis is set to reopen Monday after being sanitized.

PS 177 is slated to reopen Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control says it knows of 226 confirmed H1N1 cases from 30 states, with Connecticut, Florida and Missouri the latest to join the list.

So far, there has only been one confirmed death in the United States.

The Spanish Health Ministry says the country now has 20 confirmed cases of H1N1, making Spain the hardest-hit nation in Europe amid the outbreak.

Colombia's social protection minister says his country has the first confirmed case in South America, and that the patient recently returned from Mexico.

Mexico's health secretary says the epidemic seems to be leveling off.
The country's death toll remains at 19 while the confirmed number of cases increased slightly to more than 500.

More than 700 confirmed cases have been reported around the globe, including one in Costa Rica, the first case in Latin America outside of Mexico.