The number of swine flu cases has doubled in a week to 100,000 – leaving England in the grip of an epidemic. It came as officials warned that a third of those who have died so far had no serious underlying health problems. Such is the level of concern that the new National Flu Pandemic Service website crashed within minutes of going live after receiving 2,600 hits a second, or 9.3million an hour. Prepared: Masked Italian students arrive at Stansted as news breaks that swine flu cases in England doubles in a week to 100,000 The Health Protection Agency yesterday said for the first time that the disease was probably at epidemic levels – or one in 500 people reporting flu-like illness. It makes it the most virulent flu outbreak since the winter of 1999/2000, when 21,000 lost their lives. The NHS is planning for up to 65,000 deaths from swine flu, with 30 per cent of the population – and 50 per cent of children – catching the infection. Most of the new cases were children aged under 14 – dubbed ‘super spreaders’ of the virus by the chief medical […]