Swine flu claims North victim

Swine flu has claimed another victim in the North, it was announced today, taking to 17 the number of people with the virus who have died in the region so far.

No details of the patient's age or gender were given.

There were no further fatalities in the south, where to date 22 people haved died from the disease.

A total of 148 people remain hospitalised with the H1N1 virus here, HSE officials said, but the overall rate of infection has seen a sharp decrease, to 16.5 per 100,000 of population, from 21.2 last week.