BUENOS AIRES - Thirty-six people have died from the H1N1 flu virus so far this year in Argentina, local media reported Friday quoting health authorities.

The latest fatality came Wednesday when an infected man died in the remote Patagonian city of San Carlos de Bariloche, some 1,700 km south of Buenos Aires, according to the report.

Health officials said in June that the death toll was higher than the same period last year, but the country was not facing a major outbreak as it did in 2009.

As many as 626 people died in Argentina during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to the country's health ministry.