England's chief medical officer yesterday warned the public not to buy Tamiflu over the internet.
England's chief medical officer yesterday warned the public not to buy Tamiflu over the internet.
Sir Liam Donaldson's remarks came as swine flu claimed its first victim in London, and the fourth in the UK, after a 19-year-old from the capital tested positive for the H1N1 virus following his death.
Mr Donaldson, who is not responsible for public health in Scotland, said the public must not panic, because the country has a massive stockpile of the antidote and it will be the first to access a vaccine when supplies of it begin to arrive at the end of next month.
In Scotland 64 new cases of the virus were confirmed, taking the total north of the border to 1325. Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area reported 53 new cases, Tayside five, two each in the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire and Argyll regions and one each in Grampian and Highland.
The Scottish and Westminster governments have moved from containment and are making the treatment of patients a priority.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon is to announce changes to the way the virus is being monitored on Monday.
Mr Donaldson said he was surprised the NHS had controlled the virus for as long as it had. On Thursday Ms Sturgeon and her Westminster counterpart, Andy Burnham, revealed that there could be 100,000 new cases a day in the next month.
Speaking on GMTV, the chief medical officer said: "There's generally a growth in people ordering drugs from the internet worldwide and there's a lot of concern among health authorities that people might buy counterfeit drugs.
"I think this is a similar situation - people shouldn't buy Tamiflu from the internet.
"We have got a massive stockpile in this country and everybody can have access to it through the National Health Service."
The latest victim, from South London, had serious underlying health problems like the previous victims. The capital is viewed by health chiefs as a swine flu "hotspot" along with the West Midlands, where two have died.
Dr Simon Tanner, regional director of public health for London, said: "It's with sadness that we have to announce the death of a patient in London who has subsequently tested positive for H1N1 swine flu."
He added that everyone had a responsibility to "catch it, bin it, kill it" to protect the most vulnerable in society.
He added: "There are people out there in the community, and we've talked about one today - precious individuals that have got really difficult medical conditions - who are particularly vulnerable when the population has a virus like this in it," he said at a briefing.
"We've all got a responsibility for their sake. We would make the judgment that a major conurbation, with a lot of people coming into it every day, with lots of people working in close proximity, is likely to be the sort of area where you would see the spread of any infectious disease."
Ms Sturgeon said: "We are well prepared to deal with the expected increase in cases and are working steadily towards the rollout of a vaccine. In the meantime, I would urge people to remember the catch it, bin it, kill it' message and to wash hands regularly."
How the virus swept UK
April 24: The Health Protection Agency says it is monitoring a deadly swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States.
April 26: Iain and Dawn Askham, of Polmont, near Falkirk, are confirmed as the first UK cases of swine flu after returning from their honeymoon in Mexico.
June 11: The WHO announces the swine flu outbreak is now a pandemic because its geographical spread is global.
June 14: Jacqui Fleming, 38, of Glasgow, becomes the first person in the UK to die after contracting the virus.
June 27: A 73-year-old man from the Inverclyde area of Scotland dies at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley after contracting swine flu.
June 26: Sameerah Ahmad, six, who was born with a rare life-threatening disease, dies at Birmingham Children's Hospital after contracting swine flu.
July 2: The UK has moved past the stage of containing the swine flu outbreak and into the "treatment phase" .
July 3: A 19-year-old man is confirmed as the first person in London to die after contracting swine flu.
