UK: Flu death toll doubles: As virus claims 254 lives, GPs face being stripped of their power to order jabs

By Sophie Borland
Last updated at 10:35 AM on 21st January 2011

The number of people killed by flu this winter more than ­doubled from 112 to 254 in the past week, figures revealed last night.

More than 90 per cent of victims had swine flu and the remainder influenza B or H2N3, the two other strains in circulation.

The sharp increase comes as the Government suggested that following this year’s shortages, it would strip GPs of the power to order flu vaccines.

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The number of patients with flu in intensive care has also fallen to 418, compared with 661 last week.

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According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), which compiles the figures, it is usual for there to be a ‘lag time’ between the peak in infection rates and the highest number of deaths.

Professor John Watson, head of the HPA, said many of those who had recently died probably caught the disease during the height of the outbreak and their condition had rapidly deteriorated.

He also said that there was often a delay in hospitals reporting data, meaning many of the deaths recorded this week may have happened several weeks ago.

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