SWINE flu cannot be contained and the number of new cases could reach 100,000 per day by the end of next month, the Government has said.
The UK has moved past the stage of containing the outbreak and into the “treatment phase”, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said.
“We have reached the next step in our management of the disease,” he told the House of Commons.
“Our national focus will be on treating the increasing numbers affected by swine flu. We will move to this treatment phase across the UK with immediate effect.”
There are now 7,447 laboratory-confirmed cases in the UK after a “considerable rise” last week.
In the UK, three people – who all had underlying health problems – have died after contracting the virus.
Mr Burnham said: “Cases are doubling every week and on this trend we could see over 100,000 cases per day by the end of August.”
The Government has signed contracts to secure enough vaccine for the whole population, he told MPs.
The first will become available next month, with enough for 30m people to be vaccinated by the end of the year.
