A 12-year-old disabled boy has become the second child in less than two days to die in Northern Ireland after catching swine flu.

The boy, Aaron McBride, was a pupil at Tor Bank Special School in Dundonald, but had been a patient at the Ulster Hospital for the last three weeks.

The Department of Health said the boy had “a serious underlying medical condition”.

He was the second child to die after contracting swine flu in two days following the death of a baby on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the department revealed that 75 new cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past week, and a dramatic increase in the number of patients being hospitalised with the virus.

In total 433 people have been confirmed as having the virus in the province. There were 75 new cases of swine flu confirmed this week, which the Department of Health said was the highest weekly number reported to date.

Out-of-hours calls for flu and flu-like illness are also at their highest and have increased for the fifth week in a row, while the number of people being hospitalised with swine flu has increased by 61% from 28 two weeks ago to 61 in the last week.

While GP consultations for flu and flu-like illness have dropped this week to 166 per 100,000, they still remain higher than normal.

As the Belfast Telegraph revealed yesterday, there are more than 100 antiviral perscriptions being handed out every day but the Department of Heath has said this was even higher last week, when 831 courses of the drugs were prescribed.

In total 11,749 antiviral prescriptions have been issued so far.

In the Republic 34 people are being treated in hospital with swine flu.

But health experts have warned the worst is yet to come, with Dr Brian Dunn, chairman of the British Medical Association’s Northern Ireland General Practitioners committee, saying the school summer holidays helped us to “escape the worst”.

“With the new school term swine flu is going to spread again and I think the figures reflect that,” he said.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Elizabeth Mitchell said Northern Ireland is in the “second wave” of the pandemic.

“Although we have seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalisations and have sadly reported two further deaths, I want to reassure the public that for the vast majority of people swine flu remains a relatively mild illness from which you will make a full recovery,” she said.

“If you think you have swine flu stay at home, please do not visit your GP practice, pharmacy or A&E in person.

“People with underlying health conditions who are at higher risk of complications if they develop influenza should call their GP for advice and assessment for antivirals. This includes people with long-term conditions such as diabetes or chronic lung disease.” For further information visit the nidirect website, or call the Northern Ireland swine flu helpline on 0800 0 514 142 (9:00am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday); textphone 18001 0800 0 514 142.

Information is also available on the swine flu information line 0800 1 513 513.