The UK’s winter flu season has begun five weeks earlier than usual, health officials are warning.<\/p>\n
The UK Health Security Agency said cases were rising quickly among children and young people \u2013 and warned the virus would soon start to spread across older age groups.<\/p>\n
The organisation urged people eligible for the flu vaccine to come forward to get protected.<\/p>\n
But they said it was too early to say how difficult and serious this year’s flu season would be.<\/p>\n
Two of the worst winter flu seasons of the past decade have been seen in the last three years, something partly attributed to the bounce-back of the virus after Covid restrictions and when immunity has been low.<\/p>\n
Last year nearly 8,000 people died from flu and in the 2022-23 flu season there were nearly 16,000 deaths.<\/p>\n
UKHSA flu lead Dr Suzanna McDonald said: \u00ab\u00a0We are worried that flu has started to circulate a little bit earlier than usual.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s a very serious disease. It’s not just a nasty cold.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We have started to see early activity, particularly in young adults, mainly sort of university age students, and also with school-aged children.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We would expect in the coming weeks that this will start to spread throughout the community and this is something that we will monitor very closely.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Dr Alex Allen, a consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA, urged all eligible people to come forward for vaccination.<\/p>\n
Everyone aged 65 and over, pregnant women and those with certain long-term health conditions can get a free flu jab on the NHS.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0If you’re eligible for a vaccine it is because you are at greater risk of severe illness \u2013 every year we see many thousands end up in hospital and far too many deaths from flu.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s crucial that everyone eligible books their appointment as soon as possible. The vaccine is our best defence.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
He also reminded parents of under 16-year-olds to return consent forms to school so their children can get vaccinated, or if they are aged two and three to arrange a vaccine via their GP.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The nasal spray vaccine can help stop your child from getting very unwell and reduce the risk of passing flu to vulnerable family members.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Anyone with flu or Covid symptoms \u2013 including high temperature, cough, and feeling tired or achy \u2013 should minimise contact with others, especially those who are vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0If you need to go out with symptoms, consider wearing a face covering, wash hands regularly and ensure indoor spaces are well ventilated,\u00a0\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, UKHSA said Covid cases were decreasing and the virus was now at baseline levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UK’s winter flu season has begun five weeks earlier than usual, health officials are warning. The UK Health Security Agency said cases were rising quickly among children and young people \u2013 and warned the virus would soon start to spread across older age groups. The organisation urged people eligible for the flu vaccine to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}