Swine flu death toll rises to four
Updated on 03 July 2009
A 19-year-old man has been confirmed as the first person in London to die after contracting swine flu.
The teenager from south London, who suffered serious underlying health problems, tested positive for the virus following his death on Wednesday.
He is the fourth person with swine flu to die in the UK.
The latest death comes amid warnings that the number of cases could soar to 100,000 a day by the end of next month.
Earlier the Government's chief medical officer warned the public to avoid panic-buying "counterfeit" anti-swine flu drugs online.
Sir Liam Donaldson, who confirmed on Thursday that the UK has moved past the stage of containing the swine flu outbreak and into the "treatment phase", said there was no need for people to resort to the internet to self-medicate.
He said Britain had a massive stockpile of Tamiflu and would be one of the first countries to have access to a vaccine, with the first supplies arriving at the end of next month.
Sir Liam told GMTV: "There's generally a growth in people ordering drugs from the internet worldwide and there's a lot of concern amongst health authorities that people might buy counterfeit drugs.
"I think this is a similar situation - people shouldn't buy Tamiflu from the internet.
"We have got a massive stockpile in this country and everybody can have access to it through the National Health Service."
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