Another 225 Cases Of Swine Flu Confirmed In London

A further 225 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in London as the disease’s sweep around the country continued.

The new cases bring the capital’s total to 985 – more than a quarter of the UK total of 3,364

A total of 234 cases were confirmed elsewhere in the country, including 158 in the west Midlands.

Both London and the Midlands are adopting a policy of outbreak management, meaning new swine flu cases will be clinically diagnosed rather than being confirmed by laboratory results.

The new policy means swabbing will take place only for a small number of cases, to keep track of the strength of the virus.

Doctors will also use the drug Tamiflu more selectively, targeting only people with symptoms.

The drug is now unlikely to be handed out to everyone who has come into contact with a swine flu sufferer as a precaution.

Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson stressed that many parts of the country were still in the containment phase.

But he warned there could be “tens of thousands of cases” of swine flu each week by the autumn because the virus is more likely to thrive in the colder months.”We still think we are heading for the largest surge of cases in the autumn and winter”

Donaldson said: “We still think we are heading for the largest surge of cases in the autumn and winter.”

He also pointed to three possible scenarios for the virus as the UK enters winter:

• The virus remains relatively mild;

• It mutates into something more severe;

• It combines with another virus to create another strain.

The Government has signed contracts with GSK and Baxter for the supply of 130 million doses of swine flu vaccine – enough for the entire population.

The first delivery is expected in August and 60 million doses should have been delivered by the end of the year.

The vaccine will also offer protection from swine flu in the years ahead.

It also emerged that the fresh surge of swine flu cases has left NHS Direct swamped with calls. The advice to the public from NHS Direct is to check swine flu symptoms online before calling.

A spokeswoman warned that people with non-urgent calls face a longer wait before being dealt with.

“People who have flu-like symptoms and are concerned are advised to stay at home and if possible check their symptoms on the cold and flu symptom checker on http://www.nhs.uk,” she said.

On Monday and Tuesday this week NHS Direct received more than 6,500 calls from people worried they had the virus.