Swine flu hits United Kingdom

It was announced today that two people from Scotland have been taken into hospital after they got back from a holiday in Mexico. It's been confirmed that they do have swine flu and these are the first cases in the UK.

Nicola Sturgen, the Scottish Health Secretary has said that pair were getting better and were currently in a hospital in Lanarkshire and they only had a mild strain of the virus. They are said to be in isolation. The British Health Secretary Alan Johnson has said in the Commons that there were reports of, potentially, another 25 cases. Nine of these have now been given the all clear. The other 14 cases are still being looked into and there is no update as yet. The Department of Health will now increase it's surveillance in the UK. If the virus begin to spread in the United Kingdom then the Health Secretary has said that they will use their stockpile of medication to treat anyone who displays symptoms. Speaking about it Alan Johnson said: "People will wish to know whether they should wear facemasks. "Although we are aware that facemasks are being given out to the public in Mexico, the available scientific evidence does not support the general wearing of facemasks by those who are not ill, whilst going about their normal activities. "We have established a stockpile of enough anti-virals to treat more than 33m people, that is to say half of the UK population," Nicola Sturgen said: "I would reiterate that the threat to the public remains low.

Photo by eneas

Swine flu has impacted Mexico greatly, encouraging some residents to flock to churches to pray for safety despite the warnings

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"The precautionary actions we have taken over the last two days have been important in allowing us to respond appropriately and give us the best prospect of disrupting the spread of the virus." There have been no deaths from outside of Mexico. An expert has said that they weren't entirely sure what was going on there and suggested there could have been a different virus.