Swine flu continues slow spread
Updated on 02 May 2009
A six-year-old in Oxfordshire is the latest confirmed case of swine flu in the UK, but fears of its potency are now receding. Julian Rush reports.
The number of confirmed swine flu cases worldwide has nearly doubled since yesterday, but new figures indicate the virus has claimed fewer lives than first thought.
France, South Korea and Italy are the latest countries to report infections.
Those cases, plus two more here in the UK, including the six-year-old girl in Oxfordshire and nearly 250 just reported in Mexico, bring the total worldwide to 653.
The results from Mexico this morning also revealed that 75 fewer people than first reported actually died of swine flu.
But now that the disease has reached the Far East, where bird flu first cropped up, there are concerns the situation could become much more serious.
