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Swine flu cases double as 100,000 people contract disease in just one week Pandemic Here We Come?
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The number of confirmed new cases of swine flu in England last week soared by almost double to 100,000, the Department of Health said.
Doctors say a total of 840 people are classed as 'seriously ill' in hospital - 63 of them in intensive care - from the effects of the disease.
The latest figure is a dramatic rise on the previous week, where 55,000 consulted their GPs with suspected swine flu.
The majority of people with the virus in hospital are aged 16 to 64, with 435 cases, followed by the under-fives, with 169 cases.
Among those aged over 65, 149 people are in hospital and there are 87 cases among young people aged five to 15.
Tower Hamlets in east London continues to be the primary care trust with the highest number of GP consultations for people with flu-like illness.
It is seeing 792 consultations per 100,000 people, followed by Islington in north London with 488 consultations per 100,000.
Other badly affected parts of England include Greenwich, south east London, Leicester, and Telford and Wrekin.
The Government's chief medical officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, said information on the number of deaths in England had now been provisionally validated.
This means each death has been fully investigated to determine whether somebody had swine flu and to what extent it may have contributed to their death.
He said there were 26 deaths in England that were now provisionally validated, which is the same figure as last week.
But Sir Liam would not be drawn on how many of those deaths were new and how many deaths had been discounted in the new calculations.
'Some have gone out and some have come in,' he said.
'We are down to the sorts of numbers where it might be possible to identify individuals.'
Asked why the UK seemed to be particularly badly affected by the flu epidemic compared with the rest of Europe, Sir Liam said it could be that the UK had better surveillance systems for picking up the number of cases.
'We also have strong travel links with North America, then I probably think there's an X-factor, it might be just that the eco system for the virus here is different to other countries.
'There's an unpredictability and inexplicability about the flu virus.'
A number of deaths have been fully investigated but Sir Liam would not give the figure for reasons of patient confidentiality.
Of these, 67 per cent had severe conditions such as leukaemia, 11 per cent had moderate conditions such as insulin dependant diabetes, and 6 per cent had mild conditions such as high blood pressure controlled by tablets.
A total of 16 per cent of patients had no medical conditions and were not taking any medication.
Sir Liam said: 'The bad thing would be if 100 per cent of the deaths were healthy people.
'The vast majority of people, even with an underlying condition, will get the flu and recover well.'
He added: 'The highest hospitalisation rate is for the under fives. Under fives remain the most likely to be hospitalised and the proportion being hospitalised has gone up a bit in the last week.'
The statistics released today showed some fall in the number of people seeking medical advice for flu symptoms, but Sir Liam said it was too early to draw any conclusions that the current outbreak had peaked.
'There is some evidence of falls in numbers in some parts of the country but we don't know what the significance of that is and we are doubtful that it represents a trend.'
He added: 'It's a little bit of possible good news. That's as far as I would go.'
He said the Government's response, which includes the setting up of the new National Pandemic Flu Service, was 100 per cent worthwhile.
The new figures come as a telephone service for victims of swine flu is launched which is capable of answering more than one million calls a week.
The Government's National Flu Pandemic Service for England, which went live at 3pm today, is being staffed by more than 1,500 call centre staff, with the option of recruiting 500 more.
The initial 1,500 will be capable of more than 200,000 calls a day - or more than one million calls a week.
Call centre staff will take callers through a computerised questionnaire to check symptoms.
If it is suspected they have swine flu, callers will be given a unique reference number, allowing them to pick up anti-viral drugs from the otherwise secret locations.
The sufferer will then send a 'flu buddy' to pick up the drugs, who will have to present ID for the patient and the reference number when they collect the medication.
Met Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said today that 272 police officers have suspected swine flu, with 220 off sick.
If swine flu escalates in the autumn universities could be partly shut down, freshers' week events postponed and students quarantined, it was reported.
Senior Church of England figures today recommended that the sharing of the chalice at communion should be suspended while the spread of swine flu continues.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to Bishops setting out the new measures following Department of Health advice not to share 'common vessels' for food or drink.
The letter said it aimed to offer guidance at a national level about how church worship could 'best take into account the interests of public health during the current phase of the swine flu pandemic'.
Some bishops have already taken the step in a bid to limit the spread of the virus.
For those still wishing to offer both bread and wine, the Archbishops recommended allowing the priest to dip communion wafers in the chalice before handing them out to communicants.
However presiding ministers are reminded in the letter to wash their hands thoroughly before undertaking communion.
It said: 'The Department of Health have recently advised us that "in a pandemic it makes good sense to take precautions to limit the spread of disease by not sharing common vessels for food and drink".
'In the light of this advice, we recommend those presiding at Holy Communion suspend the administration of the chalice during this wave of pandemic flu.'
British schoolchildren and their teachers on a school trip to France were kicked out of the country when some of them exhibited symptoms of swine flu.
The 14-year-olds, from Lea Manor High School in Luton, were forced to wear surgical masks and shoes while being treated by medics in anti-contamination suits.
They were sworn at by local people and told to 'go home to your disease-ridden country'.
Experts have warned that problems in the production of a new swine flu vaccine mean many vulnerable people - especially pensioners - may not receive it for months.
So far, 31 people have died from the virus.
A national swine flu service aiming to speed up access to drugs for thousands of infected people went live this week.
GlaxoSmithKline, which makes flu drugs, has been accused of profiteering after announcing profits of £2.1billion - up 10 per cent since the outbreak began.
The Government has ordered up to 132 million doses of swine flu vaccine from GSK and another company, Baxter, in contracts worth £155.4 million over four years. The vaccine will not be available until September .
[link to www.dailymail.co.uk]
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