Following the first swine flu related death in Britain, here is a timeline of the key events in the spread of the virus:
Published: 8:30AM BST 15 Jun 2009
April 2: A four-year-old boy in Mexico is known to have contracted swine flu in what is thought to be the first case of the H1N1 strain associated with pigs crossing over to humans.
April 25: UK authorities confirm they are monitoring the potential of the virus to spread.
On the same day, a member of cabin crew is taken to hospital with flu-like symptoms after falling ill on a flight back to Heathrow from Mexico City. It is later confirmed he is free of infection.
April 27: Scottish Health Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirms the first two British cases of swine flu.
The couple, later named as Iain and Dawn Askham from Polmont, near Falkirk, caught the virus while on honeymoon in Mexico.
April 28: The Foreign Office and World Health Organisation advise against all but essential travel to Mexico.
May 1: Graeme Pacitti, a close friend of the Askhams, is confirmed as Britain's first case of human-to-human transfer of the virus.
May 6: The Government appoints a "flu tsar" to deal with the threat of a pandemic.
Ian Dalton, chief executive of NHS North East, is seconded to the newly created post of national director for NHS Flu Resilience.
May 10: The number of confirmed cases tops 50 when seven more cases in England take the total number to 55.
May 15: Contracts are signed between the Government and drug companies for up to 90 million doses of a pre-pandemic swine flu vaccine.
May 17: The number of people confirmed with swine flu in the UK passed the 100 mark after 14 more cases were diagnosed.
June 11: The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced the
swine flu outbreak is now a pandemic.
June 13: The number of swine flu cases rises above the 1,000 mark.
June 14: A statement from the Scottish Government confirms the first death of a patient suffering from the H1N1 virus.
No comments:
Post a Comment