A six-year-old girl and a GP have died from swine flu, taking the number of UK deaths linked to the virus to 17, it was announced today.
Chloe Buckley, from north-west London, died on Thursday at St Mary's hospital in Paddington after contracting the virus in the UK. Bedfordshire GP Dr Michael Day died on Saturday in the Luton and Dunstable hospital.
A post-mortem examination will be carried out on Chloe to determine whether she had any underlying health conditions, said Dr Simon Tanner, from NHS London.
A swab test has shown that Day had swine flu but his death will be investigated by the local coroner to determine its exact cause, a statement from NHS East of England said.
It comes after the first British patient without underlying health problems died on Friday after contracting swine flu. The patient, from Essex, died in Basildon.
Earlier today, it was disclosed that the virus had reached Downing Street. It is understood that Gordon Brown's adviser on climate change, Michael Jacobs, has been infected.
Nearly 10,000 Britons have been confirmed with swine flu after it spread to the UK from Mexico. However, hundreds of thousands more people in the UK are thought to have the virus.
The total number of cases in the country are now being estimated rather than counted individually.
The UK has the third highest case total in the world after Mexico, which has 10,262 cases, and the US, which has at least 33,902.
Speaking about Chloe's death, Dr Tanner said: "We don't know if she had underlying health issues.
"There is a post-mortem examination planned. At that point we hope to say if there were underlying health problems."
Chloe's death brings the number of swine flu-related deaths in the capital to six.
Tanner said it was difficult to say exactly how many people have caught the virus, now patients are no longer swabbed. He said most people who contracted the virus would experience mild symptoms and feel better within a few days.
The advice to regularly wash hands and throw away used tissues remains the same, he added.
