Britain is the hardest-hit nation in Europe amid the global swine flu epidemic. Many flu experts believe numbers could jump exponentially now that the virus is entrenched. Because swine flu, or H1N1, is a new virus, few people have any natural immunity, allowing the virus to spread rapidly.
"Cases are doubling every week and on this trend we could see over 100,000 cases per day by the end of August," Health Minister Andy Burnham told the House of Commons on Thursday.
Britain had been trying to contain the disease by liberally giving out the drug Tamiflu to all suspected swine flu cases and their contacts. Yet many experts have criticized Britain's attempt to contain the outbreak, saying it wastes resources, drugs and could promote antiviral resistance.
Burnham said Britain will now only give the antiviral to people believed to have the virus.
The World Health Organization has said that 2 billion people could eventually be infected with swine flu worldwide. Most cases are mild and require no medical treatment. More than 77,000 cases, including 332 deaths, have been reported worldwide.
Other countries including Australia, Japan, and the United States initially tried to contain swine flu by giving out Tamiflu widely, but dumped the strategy within weeks.
Still, Britain's top medical officer defended the country's earlier approach.
"We've been fighting this pandemic very aggressively," Sir Liam Donaldson said during a press conference. "We're unapologetic about that."
Burnham said people with swine flu symptoms should check health services websites or call flu hotlines to get help before seeing their doctors. He said patients should stay at home and have friends pick up drugs for them from designated community centers.
The sharp jump in Britain's numbers may also reflect the country's previous refusal to look for the disease. When swine flu arrived in the U.K., officials only tested people who had traveled to North America, where the epidemic began, or if they were contacts of a confirmed swine flu case.
That meant the testing system did not pick up the virus' spread into communities. WHO's declaration in June that swine flu was a pandemic - a global epidemic - was made partly because the agency felt some countries, including Britain, were not accurately reporting their swine flu outbreaks.
Burnham also predicted the first doses of swine flu vaccine would arrive in Britain in August.
Other experts, however, doubt the vaccine will be available that quickly, since it needs to be produced, tested in humans and meet regulatory approval - a process that may take longer than two months.
