OTTAWA - Public health officials say the number of H1N1 influenza cases in Canada continues to rise, but overall, levels are relatively low.
Figures from the Public Health Agency of Canada indicate for the week ending Sept. 26, the number of cases requiring hospitalization climbed to 1,479.
That's an increase of 12 from the previous week.
The number of deaths remains unchanged at 78.
Quebec has had the highest number of hospitalized cases at 580.
Ontario and British Columbia have seen more flu activity lately.
Students in and around Vancouver have stayed home with flu-like symptoms. More than one-third of the students missed class at a downtown elementary school.
At a boarding school on Vancouver Island, sporting and other events were cancelled after about a quarter of the students reported mild symptoms similar to swine flu, although tests were still pending.
There were also reports of a high absentee rate at a secondary school in east Vancouver.
In Ontario, provincial labs have seen a sharp increase in influenza A cases and further testing is expected to determine that they are the H1N1 strain.
The flu activity is concentrated mostly in Toronto, Hamilton and London.
A confirmed case of swine flu kept more than 100 students home this week at an elementary school in Hamilton.
Ontario's health minister has urged the federal government to speed up approval of the H1N1 pandemic vaccine amid growing concern cases of swine flu are set to spike in the province.
The provinces can't begin vaccinating people until Health Canada issues a licence to the manufacturer.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has a contract to produce 50.4 million doses of pandemic vaccine at its facility in Ste-Foy, Que.
But there are concerns about the new pandemic vaccine, which contains adjuvants, or compounds that boost the immune system's response to vaccine, allowing smaller doses to be used.
There are no data on the use of adjuvanted flu vaccine in pregnant women, which may add to the already high degree of reluctance many pregnant women feel about taking any medication or therapy.
So Ottawa has ordered 1.8 million doses of vaccine that does not contain adjuvants just for pregnant women and young children.
An unpublished study has also suggested that people who got a seasonal flu shot last year had double the risk of catching swine flu compared with unvaccinated people.
But the Public Health Agency of Canada has said a preliminary analysis of that study suggests there is no link between having a seasonal flu shot and developing a severe case of pandemic flu.
Still, most provinces and territories have either scaled back or suspended plans to deliver seasonal flu vaccine this month.
Also Friday, the World Health Organization released new numbers showing more than 340,000 laboratory confirmed swine flu cases and some 4,100 deaths.
But the WHO's count is probably lower than the actually number of cases since many countries have stopped counting individual cases, particularly of milder illness.
The Public Health Agency of Canada's website says the common flu sends about 20,000 Canadians to hospital each year. Between 4,000 and 8,000 Canadians die of influenza and its complications annually, depending on the severity of the season.
