Seven dead from swine flu in North

Nov 20 2009 by Andy Philip and Jane Kirby

REGIONAL figures show seven lives have been lost to swine flu since the pandemic took hold in the North East.

The revelation, made by Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson yesterday, came as the government announced healthy children aged under five will receive a vaccination against the illness.

The figure is the first total to be given by health bosses since the disease spread to the region, which covers the area from Teesside to the Scottish border.

Before the announcement only one swine flu death was understood to have been reported. Earlier this month Cheryl Ross told how her five-year-old son Luke lost his battle with heart problems after he caught the disease.

Further figures from NHS North East showed there were 33 hospital admissions over the last week in Tyne and Wear, County Durham, and Northumberland, while antiviral drugs were authorised by the National Pandemic Flu Service, in the same area.

Last night Martin Wilson, director of flu resilience for the North East, explained why the figure had not been released before now. He said: “Releasing localised figures at an early stage meant we were effectively identifying patients who died from the virus. Once a thresh-hold had been released it was possible to release the number of deaths without that risk.

“We will continue to release national death figures weekly, with regional figures every few weeks.”