Overview
- UKHSA data show flu positivity rising from 6.1% to 8.2%, with NHS England noting levels roughly three times higher than this point last year and starting more than a month early.
- The increase is driven by school-age children, prompting a call from NHS leaders for eligible groups, including many children, to take up flu vaccination now.
- A key sign of flu rather than a cold is feeling exhausted and too unwell to carry on as normal, with flu symptoms starting suddenly and affecting the whole body.
- Home care includes rest, keeping warm, drinking plenty of fluids, and using paracetamol or ibuprofen as suitable, while staying home if you have a high temperature or feel too unwell.
- Seek urgent help from a GP or NHS 111 if you are 65 or over, pregnant, have long-term conditions or weakened immunity, or if flu symptoms don’t improve after seven days, and call 999 or go to A&E for coughing up a lot of blood, sudden chest pain, or difficulty breathing.