Canada has yet to see the peak of the A/H1N1 flu outbreak and the virus will continue to spread rapidly even though the total number of confirmed flu cases surged to 4,049 on Monday, health experts say.

Seven weeks after the detection of the first flu case in late April, the A/H1N1 flu virus has spread to all of Canada's 10 provinces and three territories. The total deaths from the flu has now climbed to seven and the number of hospitalized patients reached 212, according to figures released by the Public Health Agency of Canada on Monday.

Canada is the one of the nations where the A/H1N1 flu continues to spread, followed by Australia and Argentina, health officials said.

During the past week, more than 1,600 new cases were reported and the pandemic showed no signs of abating as another 534 cases were confirmed from Friday to Monday.

"There is no evidence that the numbers are going down. We haven't yet reached the peak of this epidemic," said Alain Poirier, director of public health of Quebec province, where four deaths from flu have been reported.

One of the other three deaths occurred in Alberta and the remaining two in Canada's most populous province of Ontario, where the total number of cases has risen to 1,223, almost a quarter of the country's total.

The eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador confirmed its first flu case over the weekend after reporting no fresh cases for over a week. Local health officials in the province warned that more would come.

Meanwhile, more evidences are indicating that the country's aboriginal communities are hit harder as the virus spreads to more reserves.

Joel Kettner, chief medical officer of health of Manitoba province, said Monday that it does appear that the flu is hitting First Nations people in the province harder than non-aboriginal Manitobans.

"It appears from our information that ... (among) our most severe cases, there's an overrepresentation from a population and demographic perspective, of First Nations and aboriginal people," he said.

According to Kettner, two-thirds of the 24 Manitobans in intensive care units last week were First Nations people. Given the fact that the aboriginal makes up only 10-15 percent of the population in the province, it seems an unduly large proportion, Kettner said.

Hundreds of residents in the northern Manitoba aboriginal reserve of St. Theresa Point developed flu-like symptoms over the past two weeks, and 27 had been hospitalized for treatment.

In the Sandy Lake First Nations reserve in neighboring Ontario province, 10 people have been hospitalized due to the flu.

Also on Monday, Canadian scientists said that the antiviral drugs of Tamiflu and Relenza are relatively safe to use for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

According to a report published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday, Tamiflu is the best bet for pregnant women, but either drug can be used safely by breastfeeding women who come down with influenza.

The report revealed that pregnant women are at higher risk of complications than their non-pregnant peers when they catch seasonal flu. Evidences from some previous pandemics suggest they can be hit hard disproportionately by a strain of pandemic influenza.

"During the current pandemic, we shouldn't hesitate to treat those patients at increased risk," said Shinya Ito, head of the division of clinical pharmacology and toxicology at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

"In terms of risk-benefit ratio, I think it's very clear that the benefit is much more significant to use the drug for pregnant women, even in the first trimester," Ito added.

(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2009)