A 44-year-old man from Toronto may be Ontario's first H1N1 flu virus victim, health officials said Monday.
However, the man had a pre-existing chronic health condition and officials are probing the link between his death and the flu virus, said Dr. David Williams, Ontario's acting chief medical officer of health.
"I think it would be premature to assume that the H1N1 itself was the cause, or how much it contributed to it," Williams told CTV Toronto in a telephone interview Monday, noting that an autopsy will be performed on the body.
"So like others, I'm going to have to wait until the coroner finishes the investigation."
The man reportedly died in his home over the weekend. Paramedics were called to his home but were unable to revive him, according to the Toronto Star.
Meanwhile, Williams said that 58 new cases of the H1N1 virus have been confirmed in Ontario, bringing the provincial total to 352.
Among those are two patients currently in hospital. One is a 60-year-old man on life support in a Toronto facility, CTV Toronto reported Monday.
Mayor David Miller offered his condolences Monday to the man's family but asked for calm.
"People also need to not panic, and understand that both the provincial health agency and city public health are working very hard, and in close co-operation," Miller told CTV Toronto.
With files from CTV Toronto's Reshmi Nair
