THE Bishop of Manchester has advised churches in the region to stop sharing wine during communion services in a bid to reduce the risk of spreading swine flu.

The Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch is also encouraging clergy and members of the congregation in Greater Manchester churches to use alcohol hand gel during their worship.

A special advice pack was sent to clergy yesterday.

The bishop said: “Swine flu continues to be a mild disease for the vast majority of people and we pray that will continue to be the case. I am confident that if our advice is followed, then we will have played our part in helping to reduce the risk of pandemic flu in church.”

The Church of England in Greater Manchester has been monitoring the emerging flu pandemic over the past three months. Nationally, the Department of Health has said an estimated 100,000 people in England sought help in the past week, up from 55,000 the previous week.

There are now 840 people in hospital with the virus, of which 63 are in intensive care.

The Government’s National Flu Pandemic Service for England was launched yesterday, and is being staffed by more than 1,500 call centre staff.

On Tuesday NHS Bolton announced that the number of people issued with Tamiflu had risen from 178 the previous week to 1,250.