Swine Flu Threatens Uk Economy By +7.5%

As HINI is a huge threat to all of us and it appears to be escalating, with no end in sight, my

only intent here is to provide as much intelligence as possible to the widest selection across

all of our communities.

If it can do this kind of damage to a modern 1st world country, Lordy, it will simply devastate others.

Remember what they said about HIV/AIDS??!!!

Bubba

Please treat this with some dignity - it is very a very serious issue, folks!!

London - The British economy could contract as much as 7.5% this year if the swine flu pandemic continues to escalate, a report published on Monday. Recovery from the global economic downturn could be delayed as a result of the virus in Britain, the country worst hit by swine flu in Europe, according to the Ernst and Young Item Club group of economists. Item said the economy would contract 4.5% this year, but if the A (H1N1) virus hit 50% of the British population and 0.4% of those affected died, it could shrink three percentage points more.

The economy could also fall a further 1.2% in 2010, the report said. England's chief medical officer Liam Donaldson said last week that in a worst case scenario, around a third of Britain's population could be infected and 65 000 killed. Item said production would be hit as an increasing number of employees take time off either to care for infected loves ones or because they themselves had contracted the virus. "The main effect of such an epidemic on the supply side would be from employees staying off work because they or their dependents were ill," the report said.

"On the demand side, spending on discretionary goods and services such as restaurants, travel and tourism would be likely to fall as people stayed away from public places." The warning comes after Britain's health minister said Monday the country will get its first batch of vaccines in August, with enough to vaccinate half the population by 2010. Health Secretary Andy Burnham also said that as of Thursday last week, there were 652 people in hospital suffering from swine flu, 53 of them in critical care. Twenty-nine people with the virus have died in Britain with estimates last week of 55 000 new cases of swine flu. A study last week by Oxford Economics in Britain said the global swine flu pandemic could tip the world into deflation, stalling economies just as they struggle to recover from the financial crisis.

- AFP