As reported in Friday's Whitby Gazette there had been an unconfirmed report suggesting a child has the illness.

And the Gazette understands after speaking to a Staithes man with the illness that two other people – a man and a child – are also being treated for the virus with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire and York PCT said it cannot confirm the number of swine flu cases in the Whitby area.

And when the Whitby Gazette contacted the Health Protection Agency said it is only keeping surveillance of the number of swine flu cases on a national basis but not locally.

You can click here to go to previous stories relating to swine flu in the Whitby area and a link to the Government's advisory site

The UK has the third highest case total in the world after Mexico, with 10,262 and the US which has at least 33,902.

There have been 15 swine flu linked deaths in the UK.

The news comes as every man, woman and child in Britain is set to be vaccinated against swine flu in what will be the biggest vaccination programme for the past 50 years.

Experts are already drawing up a priority list of patients although the vaccine is still being developed.

The Department of Heath has said it expects supplies by early autumn with 60 million doses available by the end of the year.

In Whitby, the town's Whitby Group Practice has a consulting room dedicated to people with flu like symptoms.

Rather than people waiting in the surgery's waiting room they can now enter by a different door, minimising the risk of infection to others.

Whitby Group Practice GP George Campbell said the surgery has made these arrangements to accommodate patients that do still turn up at the surgery, or for patients who they do wish to see.

He added In general terms, the advice to patients is for them to stay at home and either call their GP practice or NHS Direct to obtain advice if they have flu-like symptoms.

Mr Campbell said he has not seen any cases of swine flu himself yet.

The government has announced important changes to the way it is managing the swine flu pandemic in the UK and intensive efforts to contain swine flu, such as automatic school closures have ended to free up capacity to treat the increasing numbers of people who are contracting swine flu each day.

It also means that cases of swine flu will be confirmed by doctors rather than through lab testing and doctors have the discretion whether or not they offer anti viral treatment.

"I expect we will see more cases in time," said Dr Campbell. "That's what we are expecting. It's not so far been a major issue for us in Whitby as yet," he said.

Anyone who thinks they might have flu can check their symptoms on www.nhs.uk or call the swine flu information line on (0800) 1513513