As 11 more die from swine flu, doctors have been ordered to use old swine flu vaccines to make up for a shortage of the drugs.
Chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has written to all GPs and hospital trusts, telling them that if they run short of the seasonal flu vaccine, they can use the H1N1 vaccine left over from last year.
A total number of 50 people have died of flu since October, 45 of which had swine flu while five had a milder type of flue called Influenza B.
Around 780 patients are currently seriously ill with the virus and are in critical care.
David Cameron has denied that the government have become complacent about the flu vaccine shortage.
“In some places, yes, there are some shortages,” said the PM. “The department of health has been meeting urgently today and we’ll be using the stocks that were established for a previous pandemic and making that available.”
Nearly a quarter of critical care beds in hospitals are currently occupied by people with the virus. In some parts of the country, hospitals are cancelling operations to make way for the most seriously-ill patients.
50 people have died from flu this winter.
