Flu hospital admission rates shoot up to overtake Covid

Hospital admittance rates for flu person risen sharply successful the past week and person present overtaken admissions for Covid-19 successful England, latest figures show.

Health officials are urging everyone eligible to get a flu vaccine and/or a Covid booster jab.

The under-fives and over-85s are astir apt to go sick with flu, but vaccine take-up is debased successful young children.

Covid is besides opening to summation again, infecting 1 successful 50 people.

As radical premix much indoors than successful erstwhile years, wintertime viruses are rising, including flu and Covid, with wellness officials informing they are expected to proceed going up.

Flu, particularly, is putting much radical successful infirmary successful England than astatine immoderate constituent since the wintertime of 2017-18, erstwhile determination was a truly ample wave.

The fig of radical successful infirmary beds with flu is inactive little than the fig with Covid, however.

While astir older adults are getting jabbed against flu, less than a 3rd of large women and less than fractional of the highly susceptible under-65s person had a flu vaccine.

Vaccine uptake is peculiarly debased (less than 40%) among 2 and three-year-olds, who are eligible for a nasal spray flu vaccine.

"The flu vaccine offers the champion extortion against terrible unwellness and it's not excessively precocious for everyone eligible to get it," said Dr Conall Watson, advisor epidemiologist astatine the UKHSA.

Serious unwellness from Covid is affecting the oldest property groups the most, and they are the ones astir apt to extremity up successful hospital.

Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal, from the UKHSA, said anyone who is implicit 50 oregon has an underlying information that makes them precocious hazard should travel guardant to get their booster jab.

"While Covid-19 and flu tin beryllium mild infections for many, we indispensable not hide that they tin origin terrible unwellness oregon adjacent decease for those astir susceptible successful our communities," helium said.

"If you are unwell this winter, delight effort to enactment astatine location and debar interaction with different people, peculiarly aged oregon susceptible radical - this volition assistance halt corruption from spreading."

Infection levels are present akin to wherever they were astatine the extremity of September.

Covid rates by nation, according to the ONS, are:

These figures are based connected random tests of thousands of radical successful household crossed the UK, whether oregon not they person symptoms.

The information was collected by the ONS for the week ending 5 December 2022 for England, Wales and Scotland, and the week ending 3 December 2022 for Northern Ireland.