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Government moves to 'treatment phase' as health secretary says infection rate could reach 100,000 a day by end of August
David Batty and Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 July 2009 15.40 BST Article history
Pupils gather outside Downend school in Bristol after it was closed when a pupil contracted swine flu. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Swine flu is spreading so rapidly across Britain that there could be 100,000 new cases a day by the end of next month, the health secretary, Andy Burnham, said today.
The UK would immediately move to the "treatment phase" of its plan to combat swine flu, meaning doctors would no longer test for the H1N1 virus and urge anyone with symptoms to stay at home, Burnham told the House of Commons.