The NHS has provided advice on how to tell the difference between a common cold and the flu in three simple steps, as hospital admissions for influenza surge.The latest figures reveal that the number of patients with flu in English hospitals has quadrupled to over 5,000 before the New Year.
In the week ending December 29, there was an average of 4,469 daily hospital patients with flu, nearly 3.5 times higher than the same week last year, including 211 in critical care each day.
On Christmas Day, the NHS reported 4,102 flu patients in hospital, a figure which rose sharply by almost a quarter to 5,074 by December 29.
As reported by The Mirror, on November 29, there were only 1,190, indicating that numbers have quadrupled.This comes at a time when hospitals are already under strain from various viruses, with an average of 723 patients with norovirus in hospital in the week ending December 22, and 528 patients each day last week.