Britain is "tantalisingly close" to beating swine flu, the chief medical officer said Thursday, as figures showed the death toll had risen by five over the past week to 75.
Unveiling plans to double the numbers of intensive care beds to cope with an expected surge in cases during Britain's coming autumn and winter months, Liam Donaldson said the death toll for the current pandemic was relatively low.
"We are tantalisingly close to being able to win the battle against the pandemic virus.
"Tantalising does not mean we can always get there but we are still fighting," he added.
Figures out Thursday showed 504,332 courses of antivirals had been handed out in England, where 132 people are now in hospital with swine flu, of whom 23 are in intensive care.
There were an estimated 3,000 new cases of swine flu registered in the past week — the lowest figure to date.
"This is now a very susbstantial downturn so we're pleased to see it, it doesn't mean that it won't come back in the autumn and winter but it gives us a welcome bit of breathing space to continue our planning," Donaldson told BBC television.
"Flu viruses behave unpredictably and this one's no different.
"We're pretty confident that we will see an upsurge in the autumn and winter when our flu season starts."
Meanwhile Professor John Beddington, the government's chief scientific adviser, said swine flu could effectively make its last stand in Britain within weeks.
"You can get infections coming back in a number of waves but it's likely that the next one will be larger than any subsequent ones," he said.
"What is likely to happen will depend on a number of things, firstly the number of unreported cases,.
"Whether it comes in October early and at a fairly high level, or in more moderate waves later in the year, is hard to predict."
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