HO CHI MINH CITY, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- A 60-year-old man from Vietnam's southern Tra Vinh province has died in Ho Chi Minh City after contracting flu virus H1N1, the provincial Department of Health announced Thursday.

According to the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, specimens from the man, who died on Monday at Cho Ray Hospital in the city, have been tested positive to the flu virus strain of H1N1.

Before the latest H1N1 death, Vietnam's southern region reported six fatalities of the flu virus. The patients came from Ho Chi Minh City and the two provinces of Dong Thap and Tay Ninh.

Vietnam experienced an H1N1 pandemic in 2009, with over 9,000 cases of people contracting the disease, and nearly 20 deaths within four months of the year, according to the country's Health Ministry.

In a tropical country like Vietnam, the bird flu circulates the entire year round, usually reaching several peaks in the rainy season. The H1N1 virus causes pernicious respiratory infection.