Northamptonshire County County has confirmed the scale of the virus as it begins to take a hold in our schools.

Health officials have said the emphasis has now shifted from focusing on trying to contain the virus to treating it because it is now recognised that, across the country, the illness was
out in the community.

All the confirmed cases are believed to be at 10 schools in the county.
Northamptonshire's director of public health, Dr Stephen Horsley, said: "GPs are busier than normal because the flu is now
widespread across the country, although in this region case numbers remain low.

"Our arrangements are working well and not impacting
significantly on health service provision in
the county.

"GPs are experiencing an increased number of phone calls from people concerned they may have flu and looking for information.

"Rather than overloading GPs, members of the public looking for information should phone the flu information line on 0800 1513513
or go online to www.nhs.uk."

Dr Horsley said for the majority of people, catching swine flu would be just like getting seasonal flu. He added there was not yet a need for
a local flu line because there were relatively low
numbers of cases in Northamptonshire.

Schools are no longer being advised to close by the Health Protection Agency because the illness is out in the community.

Two schools who have had children with the virus and sent letters home with parents are Newton Road Primary School, Rushden, and
Exeter Nursery, Corby. Where children are
suspected, or have been diagnosed, with the illness
they are being kept at home.

Schools will only shut if the numbers of children and staff affected rise to a level where it affects the running of the school.

Across the UK, 14 people are now thought to have died after contracting swine flu but all had underlying health problems. There are at least
9,718 confirmed cases in the UK, the third
highest in the world after Mexico and the US.