Canada has become one of the hardest-hit countries of the A/H1N1 flu with the third largest number of confirmed cases only after Mexico and the United States.

Since Sunday when the country confirmed its first case of the new flu, more than a dozen new cases have been added daily during the past few days, raising the total to 51 as of Friday.

While all cases to date have been mild, Canada's chief public health officer, David Butler-Jones, warned that the virus will likely continue to broaden and eventually become deadly.

But the worsening situation has not caused any major disruptions to daily life in the country. The government and health authorities have responded in a well-planned manner, frequently assuring the public that it is fully prepared for any scenario.

The government and health authorities have systematically implemented a series of measures, including increasing disease surveillance among risky groups, boosting laboratory tests, and vaccine research. Public awareness of the disease has also been stressed.

On Friday, the country launched a new education campaign to better alert Canadians to the symptoms of the new flu and precautions that should be taken. Apart from the traditional media, new media such as social websites Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are all serving as public education tools.

"It is one of many measures we are taking to protect the health of Canadians at this time," Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said.

"Our goal is to give Canadians advice on how to avoid the flu and on what to do if they already have the symptoms," she said.

The hard lessons learned during the 2003 SARS outbreak have better prepared epidemiologists across the country to deal with the outbreak.

The president of Scarborough Hospital in Toronto, John Wright, told Xinhua their response is to remain "calm, professional and evidence-based," and urge people not to spread incorrect information.

The hospital's reaction has been "proactive" even though it has not received a single suspected case of A/H1N1 flu, Dave Bourne, manager of public affairs at the hospital, said.

At the hospital's gate, signs have been posted requesting visitors who have traveled to Mexico, California, Texas, Kansas, New York and Ohio within the past 10 days not to enter the hospital at this time.

For those who have flu-like symptoms and have traveled to those destinations, the hospital urges them to go to the emergency department for assistance.

"We did learn a lot of lessons from SARS. We've been very proactive even though we have no cases. You never know when one will be coming in," Bourne said.

He said patients with flu symptoms would be treated at the emergency room and immediately given surgical masks. If a patient had visited Mexico or any affected areas, he or she would be put in an isolation ward away from other patients.

At the biggest indoor Chinese shopping mall, the Pacific Mall at Markham, north of Toronto, staff at a popular pharmacy store started wearing masks three days ago. Some, however, did not seem to worry too much about the flu.

Pork products at Toronto's biggest Chinese retail outlet, T&T supermarket, have not shown a decline in sales, the marketing and planning manager, Stephen Peng, told Xinhua.

"Given the fact that swine flu is not associated with pork products, sales continue as normal. Moreover, Canadian law does not allow the sale of any imported fresh pork products from other countries," Peng said.

At Farm Boy, one of the most popular grocery stores in the capital Ottawa, an employee said that everything was normal, including sales and the price of pork.

Canada's biggest pork processor Maple Leaf Foods has reported little impact on its business since the outbreak. President and chief executive, Michael McCain, even predicted an increase in demand for the company's pork, especially if Mexican pork exports are banned in some countries.

At a store of wholesale company Costco, business carried as usual on Thursday. A store employee told Xinhua that employees were given information bulletins and told to mind their health. Anyone coughing, sneezing or showing any other flu-like symptoms must stop work immediately.

On May 1, Air Canada announced the temporary suspension of its operations to Mexico's Cancun, Cozumel and Puerto Vallarta until June 1, 2009.

Other airlines, including Westjet and CandaAT, have also cancelled some or all of their flights to Mexico.

Many travel agencies too have cancelled their Mexico tours. A sales representative of Tianbao Travel said the company had stopped all Mexico tours for the time being until it receives the all clear from the government.

(Xinhua News Agency May 3, 2009)