Pregnant woman with swine flu dies

The 17-year-old woman, who was from the Borders, died "in the last 24 hours", said a spokesman for Scottish Government.

A total of 106 people suffering from swine flu have now died in the UK, said Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson.

He said there had been 83 deaths in England, 15 in Scotland, four in Wales and four in Northern Ireland.

Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "The death of this young mother-to-be and her baby is deeply saddening and my thoughts are with her family and friends.

"Medical experts have been telling us that pregnant women are more vulnerable to developing complications after contracting the virus. For this reason, they will be among the priority groups for vaccination when the H1N1 vaccine becomes available later this month.

"I would urge all pregnant women to get vaccinated to ensure the maximum protection for themselves and their babies."

Meanwhile, it was announced that the swine flu vaccination programme in Scotland will start next week.

A total of 1.3 million people are in the Scottish priority groups for the first stage of the H1N1 vaccination programme, which begins on October 21.

Those in priority groups include all pregnant women, household contacts of people with compromised immune systems and people aged over six months and up to 65 years in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups. Frontline health and social care workers will be offered the vaccine at the same time as the first clinical risk group.