A mass immunization program aimed at interrupting the spread of swine flu was set to resume in Newfoundland and Labrador on Monday.
Vaccination clinics around much of the province shut down Sunday to provide a break for the health officials who are administering the vaccine.
During a regular H1N1 briefing, Health Minister Jerome Kennedy gave reporters an update on the H1N1 situation in the province Sunday:
- 18 more people were admitted to hospital between Saturday and Sunday.
- Half of those admissions happened on the east coast.
- 27 people are now being treated for H1N1 in intensive care units
- 15 are on ventilators.
- 124 cases of influenza-like illnesses in the province.
"There doesn't appear to be a pattern developing," Kennedy said, "other than it continues to be a mostly mild to moderate flu. However, certain people with underlying conditions have a more serious effect."
The medical official of health for the St. John's region, Dr. David Allison, told CBC News on Monday morning that H1N1 has continued progressing across the province, travelling from the western region to eastern Newfoundland, but he said it appears to be slowing down as it reaches the area administered by Eastern Health, the province's largest health authority.
"Things seem to be stabilizing a little bit," he said. "If nothing else, people are, perhaps, less anxious about the fact we've got illness."
Health officials said Monday there have now been four deaths in the province related to swine flu.
A 48-year-old man from central Newfoundland died Sunday afternoon, while a 63-year-old woman died in St. Anthony, on the Northern Peninsula, died just before midnight Saturday.
The woman had multiple medical problems, health authorities said.
Two other people, a 36-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man, died last week in central Newfoundland from H1N1-related complications.
Kennedy said the Health Department has enough H1N1 vaccine remaining to continue giving the shot to school-age children and people in other high-risk groups, with the possibility that the list of people who qualify could be expanded on Tuesday.
