Swine flu no longer containable
Efforts to stop the spread of swine flu in the UK have been stopped, with health bosses now focussing on treating patients instead.
The Department of Health has now declared that the whole of the UK will move to the treatment phase of swine flu with immediate effect.
The Health Protection Agency will no longer provide daily updates of the number of confirmed cases.
The decision follows the announcement this morning that Rushcliffe had been declared a hot spot for swine flu.
It was one of five areas of the county where there was deemed to be ’sustained transmission’ of the disease.
The Director of Public Health for NHS Nottinghamshire County, Dr Chris Kenny, said: “While containment has worked very well in its early stages, we’ve been clear all along that it was highly likely that we would be unable to prevent the spread of swine flu indefinitely.
“Due to the high number of cases we are seeing nationally, we are now moving to only treating patients with flu symptoms, rather than trying to reduce the spread of the virus by also giving antiviral medicines (Tamiflu) to patients’ contacts.
“Our advice to the public remains the same. If they develop flu-like symptoms, they should visit the NHS Choices website www.nhs.uk or call the Flu Information Line on 0800 1 513 513, and if they have done that and are still concerned they should call NHS Direct on 0845 4647 or telephone to speak to their GP.
“Patients diagnosed with having swine flu will be asked to nominate a ’Flu Friend’ who can then collect the medicine from a support unit by taking along a form of identification for both themselves and the patient.
"People who have symptoms are asked not to go to the support units, to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
"Members of the public are also reminded that they should not go to the support unit as they will not be able to receive Tamiflu if their case has not been previously assessed.
“As the symptoms of swine flu are remaining mild in the vast majority of cases, some people may choose to treat it as they would any other flu with paracetamol and rest.
“We’d like to remind people of the continued importance of hand and respiratory hygiene in reducing the risk of spreading viruses. The advice is simple: catch it, bin it, kill it."
