PARENTS were last night urged not to panic as a North- East village primary school was forced to close after an outbreak of swine flu.

Education officials gave permission to close High Coniscliffe Primary School, near Darlington, early for the summer holidays after 68 pupils and five teachers phoned in absent.

Schools throughout the region reported suspected cases of swine flu, and NHS helplines were swamped with calls from parents following the death of an apparently healthy six-year-old in Middlesex.

Meanwhile, experts said that a Bedfordshire GP had not died from swine flu, as first thought, but from a blood clot in his lungs.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham urged parents to keep swine flu in perspective following the death of sixyear- old Chloe Buckley, only 48 hours after she complained of a sore throat.

High Coniscliffe Primary School closed and another five schools or nurseries reported confirmed or suspected cases.

A Darlington Borough Council spokesman said: “We have a number of confirmed and suspected cases of swine flu at schools in the borough.

“The schools are following the Health Protection Agency (HPA) advice and are keeping parents informed.

“High Coniscliffe School is closing for the rest of this week, and will therefore reopen after the summer holidays.

There are 68 pupils absent, as well as five teachers with suspected cases.

“At Branksome School there is one confirmed case.

Two pupils have been sent home from Hummersknott with suspected swine flu.

“At Firthmoor there is one confirmed case. There is a confirmed case at George Dent Nursery and three confirmed cases at Red Hall School.”

Durham County Council could not confirm any cases, but The Northern Echo understands there has been a suspected case in St Mary’s Primary School, in Newton Aycliffe.

No school closures have been reported in County Durham, North Yorkshire or all four Teesside unitary authorities.

A sixth-form student with a suspected case at Nunthorpe School, in Middlesbrough, is making good progress according to her headteacher.

Debbie Clinton said: “She is receiving treatment from her GP and is making good progress.

“As anyone knows, schools are a wonderful hotbed for germs. We will just have to see what happens in September.”

The school has issued advice to pupils, which said closures were no longer recommended because the virus was widespread within the community.

The HPA said routine swabbing of suspected cases had stopped and figures were no longer being kept on the number of incidents.

There have been 17 deaths in the UK with links to swine flu, although the post-mortem examination of a GP who died after contracting the H1N1 virus has revealed his death was due to natural causes.

Dr Michael Day, 64, from Dunstable, died on Saturday.

Bedfordshire Police said there would be no inquest.

The post-mortem examination of Chloe Buckley is being carried out to establish the cause of her death – but it is known she had the virus.

She died last Thursday at St Mary’s Hospital, in Paddington, London.

Her parents, Michael and Jacinta, released a statement yesterday saying they were satisfied with the medical care their daughter received.

They also asked to be left to grieve in private.

Health Secretary Mr Burnham said: “People do need to keep it in perspective. Lots of children have already had swine flu and have made a very quick recovery.

“And, obviously, in the early stages we saw lots of school closures.”

Nearly 10,000 Britons have been confirmed with swine flu, but hundreds of thousands more are thought to have the virus.

Mr Burnham said the UK was at the front of the queue for supplies of vaccine and would start to receive the first next month. But a fullylicensed vaccine – approved by the World Health Organisation – may not be ready until the end of the year.

Advice is available at nhs.uk, or by calling NHS Direct on 0845-46-47 or the swine flu information line on 0800-1- 513-513.

People can also contact their GP.