OTTAWA, Oct. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The unknown disease that killed four elderly last week in suburban Victoria, capital city of Canada's British Colombia, has been identified as a very common pneumonia, an official said on Tuesday.

    "The heath officials say that the virus could be pneumococcus and now they are still working on a final report," Karen Johason-Lefsrud, director of Care and Social Services at the Luther Court nursing home, told Xinhua via phone.

    "The pneumonia is not uncommon, but it could be deadly to thosefragile seniors in their 80s or 90s," Karen said.

    "And we are happy that so far there has been no more new cases," Karen said.

    When asked why it took about a week to determine a common pneumonia, Karen said heath officials had to rule out all possibilities so as to take necessary precautionary measures. Now the Luther Court, home to about 120 senior residents, remains under quarantine, any family wishing to remove a resident from thefacility may do so.

    However, re-admissions will not be allowed until the quarantineis lifted. The outbreak of the illness began earlier at the home last week, killing four senior residents. Most recently, 17 people died of a legionnaires' outbreak at a Toronto home for seniors. Enditem