As the number of Ontario H1N1 flu cases climbs closer to 300, provincial authorities are watching the spread of the virus carefully and they plan to continue to monitor it throughout the summer.
 
Andrew Morrison, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, told ctvtoronto.ca that the climb of cases has been a series of expected "peaks and valleys."
 
According to provincial figures, the H1N1 flu is making up about one-quarter of current, active flu cases in the province, he said.
 
The fact that the virus "is not the most transmissible" flu that authorities have seen, has slowed its spread to some degree, Morrison said.
 
He said the H1N1 flu is currently in its third phase of development in Ontario.
 
The first phase involved Ontarians who contracted the disease when visiting Mexico, and brought it back to their home province.
 
The second phase saw people in Ontario get sick from contact with people who had become infected with the virus during the first phase.
 
Currently, the province is seeing the third phase, where H1N1 is present in the community and it is not necessarily very easy to trace the route of transmission.
 
As of 3 p.m. on Thursday, Ontario had confirmed a cumulative total of 284 H1N1 cases, which includes both active cases and people who have recovered from the flu.
 
Morrison said the province does not have a running tally of the ratio of active-to-inactive H1N1 cases.
 
While the province generally stops closely monitoring the spread of flu during the summer months, it will be keeping a close eye on the spread of the H1N1 flu this summer, he said.