UP to 650 Islanders will die if the bird flu pandemic hits Jersey by the year 2016, according to official estimates.

The sum of £1 million has been set aside for the flu pandemic that will probably affect a quarter of Islanders within five to ten years.

Estimates put the casualty rates between 0.37 per cent and three per cent, meaning between 80 and 650 Islanders will die.

But Medical Officer of Health Dr Rosemary Geller told the Council of Ministers yesterday that they were well prepared to deal with the expected worldwide flu pandemic.

‘We should be concerned about pandemics, but we should not be alarmed,’ she said.

‘Above all, we should be prepared.’ She added that stocks of tamiflu to help infected Islanders had already been bought and that they had enough to cover the 25,000 Islanders expected to be hit over a 17-week pandemic period.

Plans to create 150 extra treatment beds have been formulated.