Rates remain highest among people aged 85 and over, at 47.0 per 100,000, though this is down week on week from 64.5. “Flu is always unpredictable, is still circulating and could bounce back even further in the new year as we have seen in past years. Speaking at the time, Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS England’s national medical director, said the combination of strikes and winter viruses meant “many hospitals will be on high alert in the days ahead”. Flu admissions in England last winter peaked at 16.2 per 100,000 people in the week before Christmas, some way above levels seen so far this year. They climbed even higher in winter 2022/23 to 18.1 per 100,000, during what was the UK’s worst outbreak of flu for a decade.

Source: The Times December 25, 2025 02:41 UTC