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The number of people consulting their GP because they think they have swine flu has almost doubled in one week.
The Department of Health said an estimated 100,000 people in England sought help in the past week, up from 55,000 the previous week.
There are now 840 people in hospital with the virus, of which 63 are in intensive care.
Most people with the virus in hospital are aged 16 to 64, with 435 cases, followed by the under-fives, with 169 cases.
Among those aged over 65, 149 people are in hospital and there are 87 cases among young people aged five to 15.
Tower Hamlets in east London continues to be the primary care trust with the highest number of GP consultations for people with flu-like illness.
It is seeing 792 consultations per 100,000 people, followed by Islington in north London with 488 consultations per 100,000. Other badly affected parts of England include Greenwich, south east London, Leicester, and Telford and Wrekin.
The new data comes as a telephone service for victims of swine flu is launched which is capable of answering more than one million calls a week.
The Government's National Flu Pandemic Service for England is being staffed by more than 1,500 call centre staff, with the option of recruiting 500 more.
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The initial 1,500 will be capable of more than 200,000 calls a day - or more than one million calls a week.
