Latest News in Brief

4th May, 2009

Alan Johnson, the UK Health Secretary, has said that Swine flu in the UK is being "confined, contained and treated effectively".

Meanwhile, health workers are attemptint to trying to trace passengers on the same flight as a Scottish man diagnosed with swine flu on Sunday. He travelled on a flight from Birmingham to Glasgow on Thursday. He is thought to have picked up the virus in Texas, but no other flights are affected. Those on flight BE7096 on 30 April have been advised to call the NHS helpline on 0800 1 513 513 although their risk of infection is thought to be low.

4th May, 2009

The number of cases of swine flu have now been confirmed at over 1000 and it has spread more deeply into the US, Europe and Latin America. The number of cases confirmed in the US alone is 244 in 34 states.

In addition, there were 101 cases confirmed in Canada, 40 in Spain and 18 in the UK.

However, the good news is that swine flu does not appear to be more severe than normal flu in terms of its symptoms. That's encouraging, but it doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet," said Dr Besser, the acting chief of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.