Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSGovernment figures suggest decrease in swine flu levels
Swine flu levels in the general UK population appear to be decreasing, according to latest government figures.
Data shows that the GP consultation rates for flu-like illnesses have fallen to 42 per 100,000 in England, 69.9 per 100,000 in Wales and 48.4 per 100,000 in Scotland over the week ending 2 August. Latest figures for Northern Ireland were not available.
There have been 530 patients hospitalised in England and there have been a total of 40 deaths attributable to swine flu alone in the UK.
However England’s chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, warned that a second wave of swine flu could occur when children return to school.
He said: ‘When schools go back at some point after that we would expect to see it start to rise again. We are pretty certain we will see a second wave, when that will come we are not sure.’
Scottish health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘NHS 24 and our GPs are responding very well to the pandemic, as is our Scottish flu response service. The latest NHS 24 figures show that the number of flu related daily calls fell to around 2,000.
‘In the vast majority of cases, most people have fairly mild symptoms and make a full recovery within a week,’ she added.
Online training units, written and reviewed by experts. Earn two hours' CPD and a personalised certificate for your portfolio.
Subscribers get five FREE learning units and non-subscribers can access each learning unit for £10 + VAT.
Share
Have your say
You must sign in to make a comment.