The State Government is urging people to wash their hands as it was revealed a vaccine to fight the deadly swine flu is still several months.

Queensland now has Australia's highest number of swine flu cases with 3468 confirmed cases - climbing by more than 1000 cases since last week.

But the state's chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young said the actual number, when including unreported cases across the state, was thousands higher.

The Government will today launch a $700,00 public hygiene campaign, telling people to wash their hands to stop the spread of the flu.

It will use billboards and posters, plastered in shopping centre toilets, universities, cafes and railway stations.

"The message that we are launching this weekend is that 80 per cent of common infectious diseases are spread by hands," Dr Young said.

She refused to speculate on how many the swine flu toll could rise by, but Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said 6000 Australians could be killed by the virus this winter if no preventative action was taken.

The national swine flu death toll stands at 31 people, with 14 in Victoria, 10 in NSW, two each in the Northern Territory and South Australia and one each in Queensland, Tasmania and WA.

There are 35 flu patients in Queensland hospitals, including 13 people in intensive care.

With more than 200 new cases in Queensland each day, 50 extra ventilators would be delivered to hospitals, Dr Young said.

Emergency room doctors have told The Sunday Mail some hospitals were close to activating pandemic plans such as cancelling elective surgery as they struggle to deal with the extra workload at a time when the seasonal flu already puts them under strain.

One doctor said the strain was enormous and only a freeze on elective surgery to free up beds would help the situation.

In Britain, the Government has announced a swine flu vaccine could be given to the most vulnerable residents by the end of September under a fast-tracked program that would push through regulatory approvals for its use in as little as five days.

British health experts are drawing up a list of the most vulnerable, including children and pregnant women, to receive the vaccine with plans to have half the population vaccinated by the end of the year.

But the Australian Government has taken a more cautious approach, ruling out any acceleration of the human vaccine trials to make sure the vaccination is safe for use.

A spokeswoman for Ms Roxon said trials would start next week, but preliminary results would not be available until September.

She said the vaccine would not be available until October.

The Government has ordered 21 million doses of the vaccine, but the roll-out of programs across the population would depend on whether trials show one to two doses were needed.

Those considered most at risk would be given priority for vaccination.