AN EIGHT-year-old boy is the latest patient confirmed with swine flu in East London, it has been revealed. The Year 3 pupil was sent home from St Paul with St Luke Church of England Primary School, in Bow, after feeling ill

By Gemma Collins

AN EIGHT-year-old boy is the latest patient confirmed with swine flu in East London, it has been revealed.

The Year 3 pupil was sent home from St Paul with St Luke Church of England Primary School, in Bow, after feeling ill.

Parents at the school received a letter today (Tuesday) confirming he had the virus.

But the school would not be shutting, the local education authority at Tower Hamlets has confirmed.

“The child is currently out of school recovering,” said a Town Hall statement.

”The school is taking advice from the Health Protection Agency and NHS Tower Hamlets and it has not closed.

“Schools only originally closed to contain the virus—but the health agency has declared that there is no benefit in closing schools as there has now been a large number of confirmed cases in London.”

ADVICE LINE

Parents who want further advice can contact NHS Direct on 020-0845-4647.

The boy is the sixth confirmed case of swine flu in Tower Hamlets, taking the London total to 195.

A member of staff working at nearby London City Airport in neighbouring Newham has also been diagnosed with the virus this week. The airport said anyone who had come into close contact with the worker had been given the all-clear.

These latest two cases in East London follow a supermarket worker at Waitrose store in Canary Wharf who came down with swine flu last week.

There have been 1,582 cases in the UK so far.