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New wave of swine flu nears in Britain: officials
London (AFP) Oct 1, 2009 The number of new swine flu cases in Britain jumped in a week, indicating the start of a second wave of infections as the northern hemisphere winter nears, health officials said Thursday. About 14,000 people contracted the A(H1N1) virus in England in the previous week, up from 9,000 the week before, while cases in Scotland almost doubled to 13,800, according to the Health Protection Agency. "It's steadily mounting," Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson. "We're not seeing the sort of explosive increase, doubling week on week that we've seen in some previous pandemics, but it is the start of the second peak, we are pretty confident of that," he told the BBC. The figures are nowhere near the peak of more than 100,000 new cases in a week in July. But Donaldson said: "There is still time for that to happen." Vaccinations are expected to start later this month throughout Britain. "The good news about the vaccine is that we got the green light, the approval of the vaccine in Europe and we expect to be able to begin to administer it in the second half of October," he told Sky News. The number of deaths of people with swine flu stands at 85 in Britain, with 72 in England, 10 in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland and one in Wales. The Republic of Ireland reported Thursday two more deaths, bringing the total number of swine flu-linked fatalities there to four. British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline announced Wednesday that it would next week begin shipping its swine flu vaccine Pandemrix across Europe, following approval by regulators. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Arab world on guard against swine flu ahead of hajjCairo (AFP) Oct 1, 2009 Arab countries have stepped up efforts to combat swine flu ahead of the hajj, fearing the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca could provoke outbreaks despite reassurances from Saudi Arabia. Some two million foreigners and possibly as many Saudis are expected to descend on Mecca and Medina for the hajj, which takes place in the middle of the northern hemisphere's winter flu season in November. ... read more |
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