OTTAWA - Hospital admissions, intensive-care unit transfers and deaths from swine flu are three times higher this week than last, says Canada's chief public health officer.

Dr. David Butler-Jones said the H1N1 virus is surging across the country, with the western provinces, the territories and Newfoundland and Labrador hit particularly hard.

"We expect to hear of more illness and deaths in the coming weeks as we go further into the second wave," Butler-Jones said Thursday.

Butler-Jones says overall flu activity is still below its peak during the virus's first wave in June, but he expects to surpass that spring high point within a few weeks.

"We're now, as of last week, we were below the peak weeks of June," he said.

"Now we're catching up. So we're not quite there yet, but over the next few weeks we're going to see perhaps what we saw in June.

"By then, I'm hoping that we'll have sufficient people immunized that we can slow this down."

Anyone who thinks the virus is on the wane should think again, he added.

"Anybody that thinks that we've seen anything but the beginning of this, I think it would be lovely, but it's a bit of wishful thinking," Butler-Jones said. "This will continue to increase."

Millions of Canadians have received the swine-flu shot since Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq approved the vaccine late last month.

But long lineups clogged overcrowded clinics already coping with a temporary vaccine shortage, which sparked confusion and frustration among many Canadians.

Delivery of the H1N1 vaccine slowed recently after drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline was asked to make special batches of the product for pregnant women.

The changeover from making the adjuvanted version of the vaccine -- which contains a booster compound -- to making special unadjuvanted batches for pregnant women apparently slowed production of the vaccine more than GlaxoSmithKline had expected.

Alberta ran out of the vaccine and had to temporarily close clinics this week, while other provinces warned of dwindling supplies.

Ontario health officials say 37 people have died and 123 people have been hospitalized with H1N1, up from 108 on Wednesday. Sixty-five of those patients are in intensive care, which is "very low," said Dr. Arlene King, Ontario's chief medical officer of health.

Some parts of the province -- such as Sudbury, Kingston and Niagara -- have seen more flu activity and are "quite busy," she added. But 41 flu assessment clinics have been set up to relieve the congestion in Ontario emergency rooms.

The Sudbury Regional Hospital in northern Ontario is swamped with swine flu cases and is warning people with flu-like symptoms to stay away.

In an update to its staff, the hospital reported a 30 per cent surge in visits to the emergency room. The hospital says some surgical cases have been cancelled and it will proceed only with critical surgical case until demand is alleviated.

Other hospitals from Vancouver to Montreal have done the same.

Health officials have appealed to lower-risk Canadians to wait a little longer for the vaccine, at least until those who are most vulnerable get their shots.

On Thursday, Nova Scotia's public health officer announced that people 19 years of age or younger who have chronic medical conditions, along with mothers who have just given birth, are now eligible to receive swine flu vaccine. The mothers' partners are also eligible for the shot.

Last week, when the province learned it would not be getting as much vaccine as it was initially promised, officials decided to limit vaccinations to children between six and 59 months old, pregnant women, First Nations communities and front-line health workers.

In B.C., the province's chief health officer said some hospitals are losing staff to the H1N1 virus as emergency rooms buckle under a crush of swine-flu cases.

"Some hospitals are seeing so much demand on the emergency rooms that they've actually temporarily stopped operating some of their ambulatory care ... and they'll send doctors to the ERs to deal with the flu patients," Dr. Perry Kendall said.

"And I think that we may well encounter a situation, sooner or later, where because of the volume of patients in hospitals, hospitals will either curtail or stop or temporarily stop elective admissions for elective surgeries so they can make space in their beds or so that they can have the staff read up so they can deal with influenza patients."

The Harper government took another day of drubbing in the House of Commons on Thursday over its handling of the H1N1 outbreak.

Liberal MP Bob Rae accused the government of being slow on getting swine-flu shots into people's arms.

"The evidence is very, very clear that it is going to require the inoculation of a million Canadians a day in order to get Canadians inoculated before the peak really hits at the end of November," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper pleaded for patience as the provinces scramble to get everyone vaccinated.

"This is by far the largest and quickest vaccination program the provinces have ever attempted in this country," he said.

"They are rolling it out. They are adjusting as they experience various difficulties and challenges. We obviously urge people to be patient, to listen to the health authorities."

The Public Health Agency of Canada reports that, as of Nov. 3, swine flu had killed 101 people. More than 1,700 people have been admitted to hospital since the virus appeared in April.

By comparison, the agency'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.