Weekly pandemic flu media update - 20 August 2009, by HPA

20 August 2009

KEY POINTS

• This week there has been a further reduction in the rates of flu-like illness and related activity.
• Weekly GP consultation rates continued to decrease over the last week in England.  
• The majority of cases continue to be mild. There is no sign that the virus is changing. It is not becoming more severe or developing resistance to anti-virals.
• Interpretation of data to produce estimates on the number of new cases continues to be subject to a considerable amount of uncertainty. HPA modelling gives an estimate of 11,000 new cases in England last week (range 6,000 to 25,000). There has been a decrease in estimated number of cases in all age groups and in all regions.
  This estimate incorporates data from National Pandemic Flu Service and GP consultations.