Most indicators show that influenza activity is decreasing across the UK, although the indicators may be influenced by the holiday period.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has ceased to provide trends for the anticipated number of cases in England as GP consultations for flu-like illness are now below the usual seasonal baseline.

There have also been no significant changes in the virus and 393 patients are currently hospitalised in England and 251 deaths (as of January 8th) associated (although not necessarily attributed) to swine flu.

Within Europe, central and eastern countries currently have the highest levels of influenza activity, whilst in western Europe, transmission of flu remains active and widespread, but overall disease activity appears to have peaked.

Flu transmission also remains widespread in North America, however, has declined substantially in all countries, including Central and Southern America, Asia, China and Japan.  In southern Asia, flu activity continues to be intense, particularly in northern India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Demand for pandemic H1N1 vaccines has been significantly lower than anticipated and may European countries have been seeking to sell excess supplies to other nations (some vaccines are also being donated to less developed nations).

An interesting, although not definitive, observation (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0910444) amongst pregnant women presenting with suspected swine flu highlights that nearly 40 percent showed false negative results when tested for pandemic flu using a rapid test, indicating that the reliability of rapid tests to confirm the presence of H1N1 is questionable.