Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon has revealed that the spread of swine flu in Scottish “hotspots” may be slowing down as the NHS announced a relaxation in the recording of cases.
New figures show that the number of people complaining of flu-like symptoms in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde areas is on the decline while a string of possible new cases have been announced in Lanarkshire.
Ms Sturgeon said: “There are some encouraging signs that rates of GP visits are declining in areas like Greater Glasgow and Clyde that have seen virus hotspots, suggesting that the spread may be slowing there.”
Last week, NHS officials announced changes to how swine flu cases are to be recorded in the future.
Close contacts of swine flu victims will no longer be traced by health officials and anti-viral medicine will only be administered for treatment of the virus and not as a containment measure.
Officials will estimate swine flu totals by recording the rate of people visiting their GP with flu-like symptoms and by taking random swab samples from existing swine flu victims.
So far two people have died and 40 more have required hospital treatment since the outbreak earlier this year.
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