Fourteen people are now thought to have died in the UK after contracting swine flu, the Government has announced.

Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said the latest figures did not mean they all died as a direct result of swine flu but that many had the virus.

There are currently 335 people in hospital in England with swine flu of which 43 are in critical care, he added.

The UK now has the third highest number of cases of swine flu in the world after the US and Mexico.

However, Sir Liam admitted it was unknown how many people in the UK were truly suffering from the virus as many people would be treating themselves at home rather than contacting their GP.

It is unclear where or when the latest deaths linked to swine flu occurred.

Justin McCracken, chief executive of the Health Protection Agency (HPC), said the organisation would not be releasing information about individual deaths, adding that it was a local decision in each case whether to release details of where and who the victims were.

Sir Liam said latest data from 100 GP surgeries around England showed that about 27,000 people per week were being diagnosed by their GP as having a flu-like illness.

Of these, an estimated 8,000 will have swine flu.

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