Health officials last night warned that more than a third of those living in Oxfordshire could contract swine flu.

Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) said it was preparing to treat 40,000 people each week at the height of a predicted pandemic.

However, the PCT stressed there was no need for people to panic.

Figures from the PCT were released after the number of swine flu-related deaths in the UK rose to 17 yseterday.

The figure included the case of a death last week of a patient in Basildon, Essex, who had no underlying health problems – the first fatality of its kind in the UK.

Despite concern at the rising number of people with the virus, public health officials and people who have recovered from the H1N1 virus, maintained there was no need to worry and urged the public to keep calm and carry on.

Dr Shakiba Habibula, assistant director of public health for Oxfordshire PCT, said that 30-35 per cent of Oxfordshire’s population of 635,000 could contract the illness.

She added: “We are prepared for 40,000 cases a week at the peak time.

“There is no need to worry.

“We have good stocks of anti virals, (Tamiflu) and the first stocks of vaccinations are expected to become available in August.

“We are prepared to respond to every eventuality.”

Dr Habibula said a planned mass vaccination programme across the UK would first concentrate on high-risk groups — like people with heart disease and the very old and young — and as more stocks become available, the whole of Oxfordshire would be vaccinated in line with national guidance She added: “The NHS plan is that everyone should be vaccinated.

”We have a very good contingency plan in place.

“When the numbers increase, people and organisations will be affected but, as long as there’s a good plan in place, there should be no problem.”

Ms Habibula said the case of the patient with no underlying health problems dying after contracting the illness was “uncommon”.

She added: “The symptoms are still usually mild.

“For normal, healthy individuals it is still just like a normal flu.”

Source: Witney Gazette