A bleak picture of a swine flu pandemic was painted by England’s most senior doctor last night.

Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson has ordered the NHS to plan for as many as 65,000 deaths – with 350 a day at the peak.

Though he stressed he was making assumptions rather than predictions, he revealed that the number of swine flu deaths has more than doubled in the past week, to 29.

A boy of six in Strood, Kent, was the latest victim.

Doctors are being hauled out of retirement to deal with an enormous increase in cases, amid concern that almost one in three people may be affected.

An army of students and temporary workers is being drafted to man a new helpline to let people get Tamiflu without seeing a doctor.

Doctors urged the public to stay calm, saying that the vast majority of sufferers have only mild symptoms.

Sir Liam stressed that it was far too early to estimate what the death rate will be and said his figures were part of NHS planning scenarios.

But he said the worst-case impact would mean:

* Up to 65,000 deaths over the next few months;
* 360,000 people needing hospital treatment, putting enormous strain on resources;
* 90,000 of them needing intensive care;
* Around 30 per cent of the population falling ill over autumn and winter – with half the nation’s children coming down with swine flu.

He also revealed that there are 652 swine flu victims in hospital in England, 53 in intensive care.

In the last week alone, there have been 55,000 new cases of flu-type illness – more than twice the figure for last week.

Source/Full Story:: Mail Online
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