Flu outbreak in England may have slowed

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt updated the Cabinet on the spread of flu on Tuesday, telling them that hospital admissions in the first two weeks of the year were double the rate in the comparable period in 2010-11, the year after the swine flu outbreak.

There are suggestions the latest figures, for the week ending 21 January, will show the rate of increase has slowed in the last week, but flu is notoriously unpredictable and any optimism will be tempered by the severity of symptoms shown by many patients.

The UK last saw a significant serious outbreak in 2013-14, with the last two winters bringing unusually low levels of influenza.

The NHS has been concerned about the potential for a severe flu outbreak since the autumn when it became clear that one of the strains was responsible for the worst flu season in a decade in Australia.

The A-strain 'Aussie flu', H3N2, is one of three that has been evident this winter, and despite concerns it has not been dominant or the most harmful.

Source - Sky News