He said: 'Your 130,000-cases-a-day projection would be consistent with anything up to 2,000 hospitalisations a day by the autumn - that would create very considerable pressure on hospitals.'
SHOOT: I predict that we will begin to see more and more people transition from complacency to panic. This is the result of people not knowing how to demonstrate concern when [at the time] concern is justified. I have repeated said, also, that you cannot overstate the importance, the signifance, the threat of pandemic flu. It is the biggest threat our species face, other than ourselves, and of course, it is partly do to our own great numbers and how we produce food that this disease exists in the first place. If it is any consolation, H1N1 is simply a natural consequence, in the natural order of things, to bring an organism (us) back into line.
The number of cases of swine flu in Britain could soar to over 100,000 a day by the end of August, the Health Secretary warned today.
Andy Burnham revealed the alarming figure as the Government moved the country on to a new 'treatment phase' after he admitted it was no longer realistic to try to contain the outbreak.
In a Commons statement, Mr Burnham stressed this was only a projection but said scientists expected to see 'rapid rises' in the number hit by the virus.
His chilling warning came just days after six-year-old Sameerah Ahmad became the third person in the country to die after contracting the disease.
Mr Burnham confirmed there were now 7,447 confirmed cases of swine flu in the UK and a significant number of people had been hospitalised.
Mr Burnham said that last week saw a 'considerable rise' in swine flu cases.
'There are now on average several hundred new cases every day,' he said.
Tragic: Sameerah Ahmad, who died on Friday, is one of three killed in the UK by swine flu
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