Flu rise warning from NHS in England

As reported by the BBC, there were more than 3,700 patients a day in hospital with flu last week – up from 520 a day the month before, the latest data from NHS England shows

Of these, 267 people needed specialised care in critical care beds last week. NHS England warns pressures on the health service continue to grow as viruses like flu re-circulate after a hiatus during the pandemic.

This time last year, when social mixing was low, there were only 34 patients in hospital a day with flu.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: “Sadly, these latest flu numbers show our fears of a ‘twindemic’ have been realised, with cases up seven-fold in just a month and the continued impact of Covid hitting staff hard, with related absences up almost 50% on the end of November.”

He warned this was “no time to be complacent” with the risk of serious illness being “very real” and encouraged those eligible to take up their flu and Covid jabs as soon as possible.

Admissions among children under five have been high this flu season, as well as among older people.

In Wales, admissions with flu have been rising since the beginning of December, with 702 people in hospital with flu on Christmas day and 29 of those patients required critical care support.

Flu-related hospital admissions in Scotland have also been steadily increasing over the winter with the rate at seven point five patients per 100,000 of the population, according to the latest figures. This is the highest on record since 2017.

The latest figures published for Northern Ireland, for mid-December, show the number of positive flu tests in hospital have risen sharply compared to previous weeks.