Ontario has been acting for some time as though the pandemic alert level for the H1N1 virus was already at Phase 6, says the province's acting chief medical officer of health.

"Don't panic because it's gone to level six because it's the same old situation," said Dr. David Williams.

Dr. David Williams told a news conference in Toronto on Thursday that the World Health Organization's decision to declare a global flu pandemic was a logical one because of the spread of the virus among continental regions.

But because of spread within communities in Ontario, primarily Toronto and Ottawa, the province has already been acting, he said.

"We're in that phase functionally. We're doing all our preparatory work, we're on alert, doing the other steps that are necessary," he said.

Williams noted the disease remains mild in Ontario. Out of more than 1,560 cases, only two people have died. Those people had underlying medical problems.

But public health officials will continue to monitor the situation in the coming weeks and months to see if the virus becomes more virulent, he said.

"We're not in a situation where hospitals are being compromised because of the load of (H1N1 patients)," said Alison Stuart, the province's assistant deputy minister of public health.

Williams said there are currently 14 in hospital, with a total of 30 hospitalized since the outbreak began.

But Stuart said if the virus mutates and strengthens, that could change, she said.

Additional steps would then be taken, Williams said.

The spread has not been "as rapid as we would have anticipated," he said.

Dr. Vivek Goel of Ontario Health Protection and Promotion said one problem health officials are facing is the demand for testing by what he calls "the worried well."

That puts an extra load on the laboratory system, Williams said.

In a Wednesday news release, the province said 85 per cent of testing samples came up negative for either H1N1 or any other seasonal flu virus.

Williams said the province wants to concentrate its resources on identifying severe cases and to aggressively track down outbreaks, "particularly among vulnerable populations."

Goel said if the current high volume of testing continues, that would inhibit that effort.