Swine Flu Wrecks The UK As Number Of Infections Double
Jul 23, 2009 9 Comments ›› Erik Wong
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.
An official website set up by the Government to deal with people worried they have contracted the virus was launched at 3pm but just minutes later was too busy to cope.
Visitors to the site wanting to check their symptoms were told: ‘The service is currently very busy and we cannot deal with your request at this time.’
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.’
He was unable to explain why the UK appeared to be worse affected than the rest of Europe, saying it could simply be down to better surveillance systems here.
He added: ‘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. Some 31 in total are thought to have died.
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.
‘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 telephone and web service for victims was launched today and is capable of answering more than one million calls a week.
It went live at 3pm and 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.
People can also visit the official website and check their symptoms online, but within moments of its launch today the system was flooded with queries and turning people away.
Meanwhile, Met Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said that 272 police officers have suspected swine flu, with 220 off sick.
