A new statistical bulletin from the Chief Medical Officer for England, published today, shows that swine flu cases are down, but deaths and serious illness remain a concern.

Over the Christmas and New Year period, new cases of swine flu in England fell to their lowest level since the early stages of the disease in the United Kingdom.

However, patients continue to be hospitalised and admitted to critical care facilities, although these numbers are falling off. Deaths attributable to swine flu are still also occurring.

The swine flu vaccination programme slowed over the holiday period, but all groups prioritised to have the vaccine are continuing to take it up.

Key statistics in the bulletin are:

Swine flu cases

• In England, the rate of general practitioner consultations for influenza like illness was 12.1 per 100,000 population for the week ending 17 January 2010.
• There are still 211 patients in hospital with swine flu in England, 62 of whom are in critical care.
• The Health Protection Agency overall estimate of the number of cases in the last week remains below 5,000, where it has been for the last three weeks.

To read the full article, click here