Flu cases in hospital have already surpassed last year’s peak as festive infections “flood” hospitals early this winter.

Latest weekly figures published today show one in 20 hospital beds are being taken up or closed by a festive bug, with 2,504 general and acute beds alone being taken up by flu patients – an increase of almost 40% on last week (1,795).

There were a total of 2,629 patients with flu in hospital last week, including 125 in critical care beds – up 90% on the week before (66 w/e 8 Dec).

Cases of norovirus and RSV also remain high with 711 beds taken up by norovirus patients, almost a quarter more than last year, and 127 children in hospital with RSV each day last week – a quarter more children when compared to the same period last year (94 w/e 17 December 2023).

Winter viruses are expected to rise in the coming weeks as children finish school and families and friends congregate at Christmas parties and gatherings, which contributes to the increased spread of viruses.

Staff continue their efforts to protect those most at risk of becoming seriously ill from flu, COVID-19 and RSV this winter with fears around the quad-demic continuing, having now delivered a total of 28.5 million vaccines since the start of September (28,465,824 w/e 15 December).

For anyone eligible and still not protected, today (Thursday) is your last chance to book winter vaccinations online or via NHS 111 for an appointment at a local vaccination site.

From tomorrow, you can still visit a COVID-19 walk-in vaccination site or find a pharmacy offering the flu vaccine, but you may have further to travel further.

In response, the NHS has opened more beds at this time of year than ever before (102,464), yet bed occupancy remains high, with 96,406 beds occupied.

NHS 111 answered one of the highest number of calls for this time of year last week, with 395,861 calls picked up by our handlers, almost 10,000 more than last year – yet over one in five more were answered within a minute, a total of 75.7%.

Today’s data shows that thanks to the hard work of NHS staff, time lost to ambulance delays (28,654 w/e 15 December 2024) was reduced by 13.6% when compared to last week’s data, with a tenth fewer handovers taking over an hour (13,100).

Ahead of winter the NHS put in place measures to manage the anticipated extra demand to emergency services, including upgraded 24-hour co-ordination centres, support for frequent users of A&E and strengthened same day emergency care services.

NHS national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said: “The NHS has been hit hard with an early festive flu season, putting increased pressure on staff as they prepare for the long winter ahead of us.

“In response to the flood of flu cases so early in the season, the NHS has been making it as easy as possible for people to get protected with a jab, including vaccination centres in supermarket car parks and football clubs, helping protect almost 29 million people across England – while also opening up more hospital beds.

“As children finish school and friends and families congregate over the Christmas period we expect viruses to continue to spread so if you haven’t got your flu jab and are eligible please come forward, and the public should think twice about seeing loved ones if they are seriously unwell.

“As the busy winter continues, I am incredibly grateful to those staff working to keep patients safe and provide them with the best possible care and I would remind anyone who needs medical support to continue to use 999 and A&E in an emergency and for everything else, use NHS 111 or 111 online.”

The weekly situation report publications can be found here: Statistics » Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Reports 2024-25