【每日电讯报】Eleven more swine flu cases confirmed in UK

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Eleven more swine flu cases confirmed in UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5378683/Eleven-more-swine-flu-cases-confirmed-in-UK.html

Last Updated: 5:23PM BST 24 May 2009

Eleven more people have been confirmed with the swine flu virus, taking the UK total to 133, health officials said.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the new cases were six adults and five children from the East Midlands, London, the South East and the West Midlands.

Four of the cases were returning travellers and seven are linked to previously confirmed cases.

A spokesman for NHS London confirmed four of the new cases were in the capital.

Three are children connected to previously confirmed cases at Barnes School in Richmond, southwest London, and the fourth is a woman from Redbridge in east London.

According to the World Health Organization, by Saturday, 43 countries have officially reported 12,022 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 86 deaths.

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said swine flu was a "sneaky virus" which was likely to keep spreading to new parts of the world and within countries already affected.

Margaret Chan said: "This is a subtle, sneaky virus. It does not announce its presence or arrival in a new country with a sudden explosion of patients seeking medical care or requiring hospitalisation.

"We expect it to continue to spread to new countries and continue to spread within countries already affected."

Dr Chan also said she was going along with many of WHO's 193 member states which had urged caution in declaring a pandemic.

"Even the best-laid plans need to be fluid and flexible when a new virus emerges and starts changing the rules," she said.

The WHO's alert currently stands at phase 5, meaning a pandemic is "imminent".