Dr. Faith Stratton, chief medical officer of health for Newfoundland and Labrador, said swine flu is rapidly spreading across the province. (CBC)

Health officials in the province are reporting a rapid increase in the number of people with H1N1, including the first confirmed cases in Labrador.

The chief medical officer of health in Newfoundland and Labrador, Dr. Faith Stratton, said swine flu is moving rapidly across the province.

"We're expecting that this is going to spread very quickly now, once it gets hold," Stratton said, "and we can expect that the whole province is going to be affected very soon."

In her latest update on the presence of the flu in the province, Stratton outlined the following:

• 97 confirmed cases in the province last week.
• Five people have been hospitalized; three in eastern Newfoundland; one in the central part of the province and one person in the western region.
• Two cases now confirmed in western Labrador.
• Western Newfoundland has the largest number of confirmed cases.

Stratton said most of the cases involve people younger than 60 years old. More women than men are getting the disease, but she said people shouldn't read too much into that.

"Women are more likely to go to the doctor, and, therefore, more likely to be tested."

She said health labs will spend less time testing people, now that H1N1 has firmly established itself in the general population.

"What we're going to concentrate on now are the ones that are more severe and certainly the ones that are hospitalized."

Stratton said that will mean the number of confirmed cases won't be as high in coming weeks, but she said that won't mean there isn't a significant increase in cases of H1N1 in the province.

"We're only counting the ones that get tested and we know there's a lot more out there in the community."