UNITED KINGDOM-SWINE FLU.
HEALTH officials in a seaside resort where a 12-year-old girl was confirmed as having swine flu today said "dozens" of other people in the area have complained of symptoms.
The girl, named locally as Amy Whitehouse, is a pupil at Paignton Community and Sports College in Devon and yesterday the school was shut and 340 pupils and staff issued with the anti-viral medicine tamiflu.
Dr Sarah Harrison, public health consultant for Torbay Care Trust, said she was not aware any more pupils were being tested, but said a number of people in Devon, of all ages, had complained of flu like symptoms.
She said: "We are aware of a small number of people who have flu like symptoms, a number of people in this area are being tested.
"The numbers we are talking about are more like dozens than hundreds."
Meanwhile, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer said today that the UK will see "many more cases" of swine flu as the virus spreads but most people will make a good recovery.
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson said he was "concerned but not alarmed" after the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the alert level to phase five of six.
Sir Liam told BBC Breakfast: "Most people who get flu, even a new strain of flu, will make a good recovery. It’s a nasty illness but it’s short and they will recover.
"To put things in proportion, in any flu, even the seasonal flu, there are some deaths, often of elderly people and the very frail.
"What we will see is many more cases, but on the whole most people make a good recovery from flu."
The move to phase five means the WHO believes a global outbreak is imminent.
It also signals there is sustained human to human spread in at least two countries, and that efforts to produce a vaccine will be ramped up.
The alert upgrade came after three more people in Britain were confirmed as having the illness yesterday, including a 12-year-old schoolgirl Amy Whitehouse.
Elsewhere, Holland and Switzerland both confirmed their first cases of swine flu today, bringing the total number of countries affected around the world to 11.
In Mexico there have been eight confirmed deaths from the virus, with another 160 suspected swine flu fatalities.
There have been 93 confirmed cases in the US, 19 in Canada, 13 in New Zealand, five in Britain, four in Germany, 10 in Spain, two in Israel, and one in Austria.