Britain's flu death toll has risen to 39 since October, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) announced Thursday, with 36 of the fatalities due to swine flu.

The HPA confirmed 12 more flu deaths this week, saying all except one case were under 65 years of age and four were under the age of five.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley urged people to be vaccinated and said he would relaunch on Saturday the "Catch it, bin it, kill it" advert about using tissues and hand-washing that has been used in previous upsurges in flu cases.

"The first line of defence against flu is to be vaccinated — I urge everyone in an at-risk group who hasn't been vaccinated to contact their general practitioner (doctor) and book an appointment," he said.

The figures come after Wednesday's announcement that flu cases rose by more than 40 percent last week.

The Royal College of General Practitioners reported the incidence of flu in England and Wales reached 124 per 100,000 of the population in the week ending Sunday.

There were 86 per 100,000 cases in the previous week.

So-called "seasonal" flu epidemics are annual health problems in temperate countries with the onset of winter.

earlier related report

S.Korea confirms first swine flu death this winter
Seoul (AFP) Dec 30, 2010 –

A South Korean man has died from swine flu, becoming the country's first reported human death from the virus this winter, health officials said Thursday.

The 30-year-old man began to show symptoms on Monday and tests showed he was infected with the A (H1N1) virus, said the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He was taken into intensive care in hospital but died on Wednesday morning, it said.

"This marked the country's first death caused by the H1N1 virus this winter," a centre spokesman told AFP, contradicting an earlier report by Yonhap news agency that it was the first swine flu death of the year.

The virus has killed more than 200 people in South Korea since April 2009, he said.

The centre said there was no need to be overly concerned about the virus if people maintained good personnel hygiene. Health officials also said South Korea had secured enough vaccines for influenza viruses.

Swine flu has killed thousands of people around the world since it was uncovered in Mexico and the United Sates in April 2009.

The new virus spread swiftly worldwide despite drastic measures, prompting the World Health Organisation to scale up its alerts and declare a pandemic in June 2009.

But the UN health agency declared the swine flu pandemic over in August. WHO officials said the virus was no longer considered to be capable of causing another pandemic, even if more severe outbreaks might occur in some countries.

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