The mayor of Middle Arm, a small community on Newfoundland's Baie Verte Peninsula, says people are in shock over news that a woman from the town died of H1N1 complications.

Lori Savoury, a 36-year-old mother of two young boys, died Saturday morning in hospital.

Officials from the health board in central Newfoundland have only said Savoury had an underlying medical condition in addition to swine flu, and had been in intensive care for several days before she died.

Her H1N1-related death was the first in the province.

Town Mayor Neville Robinson said there's a sombre mood in his community of about 600 this week.

"The town is in shock," he told CBC News, "and, of course, times like this in a small town, everybody is bringing food and visiting and trying to give them their space so they can get through this very difficult time."

Robinson said as far as he knows, few people in Middle Arm have come down with the H1N1 virus, which, he said, makes the situation even harder to accept.

"Probably there's more than I know, but I just haven't heard of any."

Savoury was born and raised in Middle Arm, and was well known in the community. Robinson said her death is being felt in every home.

Health officials said that as of Tuesday, a total of 78 people had been admitted to hospitals across the province to be treated for swine flu. Seven of them were in intensive care units and four were on ventilators.