1:40pm Tuesday 30th June 2009
By John Harrison
West Hertfordshire has officially been declared a swine flu “hot spot” by the Government.
The areas of Watford, Hertsmere and Three Rivers have now been classified as hot spots following the gradual spread of the virus through the education system in those boroughs.
It follows news West Hertfordshire has been classified as an “area of widespread community transmission” by the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency.
The announcement means doctors will be able write prescriptions for Tamiflu, to treat the bug, without sending out swabs to be tested in laboratories.
The other areas to be classified as hot spots are the boroughs of London, as well as PCTs in Birmingham and the West Midlands, Berkshire and Luton.
The declaration follows news, yesterday, that a nine-year-old girl became the third person to die having caught the bug.
The young girl, from the Midlands, is believed to have had other serious underlying health issues.
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