Cherie Blair has swine flu

Swine flu has claimed its highest profile victim yet - Cherie Blair, the human rights lawyer and wife of the former prime minister. She has been put on Tamiflu after being diagnosed with the virus on Tuesday, according to reports. Neither Tony Blair nor any of their children are affected.

The news emerged as the Royal College of GPs released figures showing a big jump in swine flu cases - nearly 50 per cent in a week. The most significant rise has been among children aged five to 14, with 160 of every 100,000 children in this age group reporting swine flu symptoms at GPs' surgeries.

Across the age ranges, the rate of all people complaining of symptoms increased to 73.4 cases for every 100,000 people in the week to Sunday, compared to 50.3 cases per 100,000 the week before. This is a rise of 46 per cent.

While revealing the new figures, the Royal College has also criticised aspects of the Department of Health's handling of the epidemic. The College says GPs are complaining of poor out-of-hours planning, confusion over prescribing the antiviral drug Tamiflu, and a lack of knowledge over how long patients should stay at home if they are found to have contracted the virus.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health spokesman today revised its figure for the total number of deaths so far from swine flu in the UK - up from 17 to 29. ·