Flu cases have 'plateaued'
Updated on 30 July 2009
The number of swine flu cases "may have plateaued", with 110,000 new cases in England last week, the government said today.
The data represent a 10 per cent rise on the 100,000 new cases estimated in the previous weeks.
The current death total linked to the virus for England is 27, while 793 patients are being treated in hospital.
England's swine flu helpline was launched last week.
The objective of the telephone and web-based service is to take the pressure off the NHS and GPs.
People with flu-like symptoms, such as a fever or temperature over 38C or 100.4F, as well as fatigue, headache, a runny nose, sore throat, breathlessness, diminished appetite, sore muscles, diarrhoea or vomiting, will be given anti-viral medication.
Over 5,500 people were prescribed Tamiflu when the service started last Thursday. The website received 9.3m hits per hour.
A new report from the Lords' science and technology committee said the national swine flu helpline in England should have been launched sooner and wanted to know if the service would be able to handle the demands on it in the autumn.
The report also demanded details of how intensive and critical care departments would handle a large number of patients.
Intensive care specialists have already said that swine flu cases may be too much for intensive care departments in the UK to handle.
The flu service is not being rolled out to Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland at the moment, as there has been a lack of demand in these areas.
The National Pandemic Flu Service number is 0800 1 513 100.
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