A hospital patient from Essex has become the first person without underlying health problems to die after contracting swine flu, it was announced today.

The patient died today at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NHS East of England said.

The patient's family has asked that no details of their relative are released.

The trust said in a statement it "would like to extend their deepest sympathies to the family affected as they come to terms with their loss".

News of the death comes as the number of people who had died while infected with the H1N1 virus has doubled in the last week.

It is thought that fifteen people with swine flu have now died since the virus was first identified in the UK in March.

Today's death marks a new point in the outbreak as all of the previous victims were believed to have serious underlying health problems.

Yesterday Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer said that on top of the deaths, another 43 people were critically ill with the bug and a further 335 were being treated in hospital.

London and the West Midlands are on the verge of being classed as having epidemics because of the rate at which the virus is spreading.

There are 9,718 confirmed cases of swine flu in the UK but officials fear the real figure could be 10 times higher.

The US has the biggest outbreak, with 33,902 confirmed cases, followed by Mexico, with 10,262, and the UK third.

The World Health Organisation has said there have been 429 deaths from the virus worldwide and nearly 95,000 infections since it was first reported in Mexico.

Earlier today, the government said plans to deal with the pandemic could allow anyone infected with swine flu to stay off work for 14 days without a doctor's note.

Employees can currently be off for seven days, including weekends and bank holidays, without needing a sick note from their GP.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "The government is rightly considering possible measures to minimise the risk of further spread of swine-flu and protect public health.

"We don't want people to feel obliged to leave the home or return to work when they are still unwell or put an unnecessary burden on GPs in a pandemic. Contingency plans therefore include the possibility of extending self-certification to 14 days for a limited period."

He said the measures would "only be implemented if absolutely needed", and the decision would be taken by the government's civil contingencies committee.