Three more swine flu victims die in UK

A man and two children child have died after contracting swine flu. They bring the total number of deaths of people with swine flu in the UK to seven.

A man and a child, believed to be from the Kirklees area of West Yorkshire, had "underlying health issues" when they died, a spokeswoman for NHS Yorkshire and the Humber said.

Health officials said they could not confirm whether swine flu was the cause of death in either case.

A spokesman for NHS Kirklees said: "It is with sadness that we can confirm that a child from the Kirklees area, who had swine flu, has died.

"The child also had serious underlying health issues.

"At this stage, we have no confirmation whether or not swine flu was the cause of death."

A spokeswoman for NHS Yorkshire and the Humber confirmed that the man was also from the Kirklees area and also had underlying health issues.

The man and child are the first people in Yorkshire to die with swine flu.

Earlier today, NHS London confirmed that a nine-year-old child from south London with serious underlying health problems also died after contracting swine flu.

The child was the second person in the capital to die after a 19-year-old man, also from south London and with serious underlying health problems, died last week.

A further three people with swine flu have died in the UK and all had underlying health problems.

Jacqui Fleming, 38, of Glasgow, was the first after contracting the virus last month, two weeks after her son Jack was born 11 weeks prematurely. Jack died later but had not contracted the virus.

The second victim was a 73-year-old man from the Inverclyde area of Scotland.

The youngest UK victim was six-year-old Sameerah Ahmad.

Sameerah, who was born with a rare life-threatening disease, died at Birmingham's Children's Hospital after contracting swine flu, although it is unclear if it contributed to her death.

A spokesman for NHS London reassured people about the illness.

He said: "Once again, we wish to take this opportunity to remind the public that for most people this is a minor illness and that they should start to feel better after a few days without needing to go to their GP or A&E.

"However, some people may be more susceptible to the virus. If you have flu-like symptoms, it's important that you talk to your doctor if you are pregnant, very young, over-65 or have long-term conditions such as asthma or diabetes."

He said NHS London is running a series of newspaper and radio adverts to provide advice about swine flu.

Last week, there were warnings that the number of cases of swine flu could soar to 100,000 a day by the end of next month.

Health chiefs said the UK has moved past the stage of containing the outbreak and into the "treatment phase".