The center said it received the report of the man's death from the Health Department of Guangdong Province yesterday.

The man, who had underlying heart disease, had lived in Guangzhou for some years and had not recently traveled to Hong Kong.

The report comes as prominent mainland doctor Zhong Nanshan said the mainland may have had more swine flu deaths than have been reported.

Zhong, who is based in Guangdong, told the Southern Metropolis Daily: "I just don't believe that nationwide there have been in all 53 H1N1 deaths."

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Reuters reported that Zhong was quoted by the newspaper that "some areas have not been testing deaths from severe [pneumonia] and treating them as cases of ordinary pneumonia without a question."

Zhong is respected by many people in China for his candor and work in fighting SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 on the mainland.

The latest national death toll, issued on Monday on the Ministry of Health website (www.moh.gov.cn), showed 53 deaths.

A spokesman for the WHO China office said he did not believe the mainland deliberately hid the situation of swine flu, adding it was difficult to verify every single case.

The Centre for Health Protection, in answer to queries about Zhong's comments, said China's flu activity has been on the rise during the past three to four weeks.

In Hong Kong, a six-year-old boy with good health history was confirmed with swine flu yesterday, two days after being admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The boy developed flu symptoms on Tuesday and attended the hospital's Accident and Emergency Department. His condition deteriorated the same day. He was put on Tamiflu and a ventilator.

Meanwhile, swine flu activity continues to decline in Hong Kong. A total of 32,091 people have been confirmed with swine flu as of Wednesday, with 40 deaths comprising 28 men and 12 women aged 11 to 93. Sixty-three people remain in hospitals, of whom seven are critical.