SWINE flu cases are expected to soar during the next few weeks.

SWINE flu cases are expected to soar during the next few weeks.

Department of Health deputy director of communicable diseases Frew Benson said the number of H1N1 influenza virus cases reached 480 in the country last week.

The department had warned that he number of swine flu cases in SA was expected to rise.

Benson said the increase in infections was inevitable and this was evident from the number of confirmed cases last week.

He said it was impossible to contain the virus and urged those infected to stay indoors to prevent spreading the disease.

Benson said the end of winter did not necessarily mark the end of infections. So far at least 998 people have died from swine flu worldwide.

But Health Department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said there was no need to panic.

"People must just continue with their lives."

The symptoms are like that of regular flu: fever, coughing, a sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.

Many people with swine flu have diarrhea and vomiting.