The swine flu pandemic "may have plateaued" in Britain, health officials said Thursday, estimating some 110,000 new cases last week, only 10 percent higher than the previous week.
The number of deaths in England was 27, just one up on the previous week's toll of 26, said the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in its weekly briefing on swine flu.
Britain is the hardest hit country in Europe by the A(H1N1) virus, which started in Mexico before growing into a full-blown pandemic as defined by the World Health Organisation.
But the steep rise in the number of cases in previous weeks seems to have levelled off as the start of school holidays reduces rates of infection.
"Overall across the UK, the indications are that the number of cases (is) no longer rising rapidly, and may have plateaued," said an HPA statement.
In addition, rates of people going to the doctor suspecting they have swine flu "show a plateau or small decrease over the last week in England," it added.
Last week, the HPA said there had been some 100,000 new cases in the previous week. Some 793 patients are being treated in hospital with the virus, down slightly from 840 last week.
It is widely expected that a second, stronger wave of infection will hit countries in the northern hemisphere later this year, as they head into the traditional peak season for all types of flu.
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