worried......

as from today 100 confirmed cases EACH DAY in worcestershire alone.

LATEST INFORMATION:

The number of cases continues to rise and the Health Secretary announced last week that the whole country is moving into treatment phase with immediate effect.
This does not mean the pandemic virus is becoming more deadly, just that it is now spreading within the community.
Experience of the first 7,000 cases shows that it is not substantially more severe than seasonal flu - therefore for individuals the virus does not pose a significant risk of complications.
However we do expect the number of cases to be large.
With the onset of treatment phase there will be an end to routine swabbing of cases.
GPs will make a clinical diagnosis of flu based on symptoms rather than awaiting laboratory test results.
GPs will make a decision about which individual patients could benefit from antiviral drugs and ask them to send a Flu Friend to collect medication from an antiviral collection point if appropriate.
Around 100 cases a day are being diagnosed in Worcestershire at the moment.
Vulnerable groups including older people, people with long term conditions, children under five and pregnant women will be given priority for antiviral drugs. In other cases GPs will exercise clinical judgement to determine whether the benefits outweigh the risk of side effects.
From the week beginning 13th July we are expecting the National Flu Line to be established to support GPs in the assessment of patients.
NHS Worcestershire will begin to establish antiviral collection points as necessary.
We are using twelve designated community pharmacies across Worcestershire as antiviral collection points.
Plans are in place to open additional dedicated antiviral collection points at sites around the county at short notice if required.
We need to continue to maintain staff on standby to man these centres if necessary.
Treatment phase will also see an end to routine contact tracing and prophylaxis for contacts.
Schools with cases will not normally be closed.
We expect the first batches of vaccines to arrive in August, with around 130 million doses available by the end of the year

Posted By: Cheltenham_Canary on July 8th 2009 at 11:25:13

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