Swine flu cases drop due to half term (From Echo)

Swine flu cases drop due to half term

11:50pm Thursday 12th November 2009 in

More stories about: Swine flu

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THE number of people contracting swine flu has dropped - possibly due to the half-term school break, latest figures have shown.

There were 64,000 estimated new cases in England last week, down from 84,000 the week before.

Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said the figures were difficult to interpret because officials said the impact of half-term could last for two weeks.

Next week's figures should give a fuller picture of how the virus is developing, he said.

Figures for swine flu tend to be higher when children are in school as they are known to spread the virus easily.

The data showed a rise in the number of people dying from the virus, with 124 deaths in England - up from 105 in the previous week. The number of people in hospital has dropped slightly to 785, of whom 173 are in intensive care.