H3N2 flu – latest: NHS warns hospitals facing ‘worst case scenario’ as super virus cases surge – UK Times

Soaring flu rates have plunged the NHS into a “worst-case scenario” as it faces a week of doctors’ strikes, with the NHS’s most senior clinicians warning infections are yet to reach their peak.

Professor Meghana Pandit, NHS national medical director, said the peak “is not in sight yet”, adding the NHS faces an extremely challenging few weeks ahead.”

The Independent’s health correspondent Rebecca Thomas has more below:

The Independent’s health correspondent Rebecca Thomas has more below:

Wes Streeting has made a last-ditch attempt to halt planned strikes by resident doctors next week by offering medics a new deal.

The health secretary has offered doctors an expansion of specialist training opportunities – but notably has refused to budge on pay.

He urged doctors to take the deal, saying a resident doctors’ strike over Christmas would have a “much different degree of risk” than previous walkouts and that he “cannot think of a single other trade union in this country that would behave this way”.

But BMA fellow deputy chairman Dr Shivam Sharma has cast doubt on the offer, saying he finds it “difficult to see members accepting” it, describing it as a “mixed bag”.

Members will now have until 15 December to vote on the revised terms.

The strain behind the UK’s surge in “super flu” cases is H3N2 – a mutation that is currently the most dominant.

But what is H3N2, and how can you spot the symptoms? You can read more below:

The number of people in hospital in England with a new “super flu” has jumped by 55 per cent in just one week, according to new NHS figures.

An average of 2,660 flu patients were in hospital each day last week, up from 1,717 the previous week.

At this point last year the number stood at 1,861 patients, while in 2023 it was just 402.

Weekly flu numbers in England peaked at 5,408 patients last winter and reached 5,441 over the winter of 2022/23, the highest level since the pandemic.