Swine flu: pregnant women told to stay home

Steven Swinford

PREGNANT women and parents with babies will be advised to avoid crowds and unnecessary journeys on public transport in an attempt to limit the effects of the swine flu virus on the most vulnerable.

The Department of Health will publish new guidelines on the National Health Service website today that emphasise the risk to pregnant women and young children.

The Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are recommending changes in lifestyle, including staying indoors when practical. Expectant mothers should also limit the movements of their other children so they do not bring the virus home.

Pregnant women are advised to avoid crowds where possible: “If they normally travel on the Tube or on crowded trains in rush hour they might want to leave later or earlier,” Sue Macdonald from the Royal College of Midwives said. “This is about being sensible and being aware of the risks.”

The government will not advise women to delay pregnancy until the swine flu pandemic has passed, as is recommended by the National Childbirth Trust. The latter was accused of scaremongering by the Royal College of General Practitioners.

More than 700 people have been taken to hospital with the virus and, of the 29 who have died, four were young children and two were mothers who had recently given birth. It also emerged this weekend that:

- Hospitals face a potential crisis over the limited number of intensive-care beds. In the worst-case scenario, seriously ill patients could have to make way for swine flu victims.

- The manufacturers of the new swine flu vaccine are to be given legal indemnity amid concerns over any side effects. Regulators are due to fast-track its approval.

- Some patients, whatever their illness, face waits of up to 11 hours before getting a call back from weekend and evening GPs’ services. Calls are running at double the normal rate.

- Security guards are to protect NHS supplies of Tamiflu when the drug is handed out at temporary distribution centres, such as community buildings.

British holidaymakers suspected of suffering from swine flu are being prevented from boarding flights. Check-in staff at Heathrow and other main British airports are vetting passengers for possible infection and turning away those suspected of being having the disease.

Some countries, including Thailand, Egypt, Turkey and China, have installed thermal body scanners to identify passengers with fever.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic confirmed this weekend that its staff were not allowing suspected sufferers to travel. A BA spokesman said some passengers had been turned away at check-in because they had flu symptoms.

Passengers who are suffering from swine flu but are not spotted at check-in may find themselves quarantined on their arrival overseas. A group of 52 British children and teachers is being held in quarantine in a hotel in China after four pupils were diagnosed with swine flu on arrival in the country on Tuesday and sent to hospital. The trip was organised by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and involves schoolchildren from around the country.

Among pupils affected are some from Cheltenham ladies college, Gloucestershire. “The Chinese authorities are taking a very cautious approach to the flu and have quarantined the group and hospitalised some eight children who are showing symptoms,” the headmistress, Vicky Tuck, said.

Additional reporting Tom Pattinson in Beijing