UK : Record number in intensive care with swine flu

From The Independent :

" Swine flu has surged in the past five days with the number of cases requiring intensive care 70 per cent above last year's peak, the Chief Medical Officer said yesterday.

The latest official figures show there were 302 people being treated in intensive care with "confirmed or suspected influenza" compared with 180 at the height of the 2009-10 pandemic. Most of those in hospital were suffering from H1N1 swine flu, officials said.

More than nine out of 10 were under 65, including 36 children under 16. Flu is normally most severe in the over-65s.

Dame Sally Davies, acting Chief Medical Officer, said the NHS was coping and there was no shortage of beds. The 302 beds occupied by flu patients represented less than one in 10 of all intensive care beds, she said."