TORONTO - Ontario's chief medical officer of health Dr. Arlene King is confirming that the second wave of H1N1 has arrived in Ontario.
"Influenza activity in the province is continuing to increase," she said.
"We are seeing that more people are visiting their health-care providers with influenza-like illness and more people are being hospitalized with complications from the flu in Ontario."
King said 28 people in the province who contracted swine flu have died since April, up one from the 27 reported earlier this week.
There are 439 people who have been hospitalized with confirmed cases of swine flu, and all but 31 of those people had been discharged as of Wednesday.
Ottawa approved the H1N1 vaccine on Wednesday, and King says 722,000 doses of the vaccine will have arrived at province's 36 local health units by day's end Friday. The province expects to receive a second shipment of vaccine some time next week.
They will be available to certain high-risk groups starting Monday, though vaccination programs differ from region to region.
People who should be immunized first include adults 65 and under with chronic health conditions, pregnant women, healthy children six months to under five years old, healthcare workers and people in remote or isolated communities, King said.
That list also includes people who care for or come into contact with high-risk people who can't be immunized.
Last Friday, health officials in British Columbia said the second wave of H1N1 had arrived in their province.
