The central province of Thanh Hoa on Saturday reported its first swine flu fatality with a 63-year-old man succumbing to the disease.

When his condition did not improve, his family brought him to the local general hospital on September 20 where he was diagnosed as having critical pneumonia and shock caused by respiratory infection, and a blood sample was sent to Hanoi-based National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to test for the influenza A (H1N1 virus).

His condition worsened on September 21 and his family asked for persmission to take him home, where he died the same day, Ngu said.

Test results on September 30 confirmed the patient had contracted the swine flu virus.

Since swine flu was first detected in the country in May, more than 9,000 people have caught it. Twenty have died, but test results for two of them, including a 29-year-old man who died on Friday in Ho Chi Minh City, are still to be officially confirmed.

Source: VNA