Health chiefs today urged parents to immediately get their children vaccinated against flu after an early start to the season.
Statistics show the number of intensive care admissions for flu in NHS hospitals are three times higher than at the same point last winter.
Some 212 people across the country have been rushed into ICU with influenza so far this year – up from 75 in 2018 and 63 the year before.
The alarming figures, released by Public Health England, indicate the flu season has struck the country weeks earlier than normal.
It has prompted panicked health officials to tell families with young children to ‘get them vaccinated now’.
Experts fear the early arrival of flu is a sign that this winter’s outbreak will be severe and protracted, causing chaos for the NHS.
Rates of norovirus have also spiked – fuelling fears the bugs will put unprecedented pressure on the already-stretched health service.
Data released today revealed there had been triple the number of intensive care admissions for flu this year as in 2018 and 2017
Panicked health officials have urged parents to get their children immunised because just a fifth of two and three-year-olds have so far received their nasal spray vaccination (stock)
Thousands of vulnerable patients have not yet been immunised, including up to 80 per cent of nursery children and primary school pupils.
Many GP surgeries and pharmacies have only just received supplies of the children’s nasal spray vaccines following a supply glitch with the manufacturers.
The latest weekly data from PHE show the hospitalisation rate from flu has doubled in a week – from 2.8 admissions per 100,000 to 4.31.
This is twenty times higher than the same time last year – yet just a quarter of two and three-year-olds have so far received their nasal spray vaccine.
The low uptake is largely due to a temporary supply problem with AstraZeneca, the nasal spray’s manufacturer.
Although these issues have since been resolved and stocks are being delivered to GP surgeries and pharmacies, the huge numbers of unvaccinated youngsters is a cause for concern.
Children are known as ‘super-spreaders’ because they tend to catch flu at school or nursery and pass it on to pregnant mothers or grandparents.
Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal, head of flu at PHE, said: ‘Flu season has now started and so it’s really important that people get their flu vaccine as soon as possible to ensure they are protected against this potentially very serious illness.
‘The initial evidence suggests the vaccine is a good match for the main strain of flu that is circulating.
‘Vaccination uptake in toddlers is lower than we would hope for at this point in the year due to previous delays in delivery of the vaccine, which are now resolved.
‘If you have children aged two to three go to your GP to get them vaccinated now.’
Children who are aged two and three are eligible for the flu vaccine nasal spray through their GP surgery.
People aged 65 and over, children and adults with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women are urged to get their free vaccine in the next few weeks.
This year is the first time officials included Year Six pupils in the vaccination scheme, meaning an extra 600,000 children were offered protection.
The move was announced after health leaders anticipated a difficult flu season due to an unprecedented outbreak that rocked Australia.
Almost 293,000 flu cases were recorded in Australia in 2019. The outbreak began to take hold in March – two months earlier than normal.
Australia’s flu season usually lasts begins in May and lasts until October, with their outbreaks normally peaking in August.
The flu season in the UK and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere tends to mirror what has happened in the Southern Hemisphere.
The US has also been caught off-guard by an early season. Four children and scores more adults have died from flu in the last two months.
The most recent weekly flu report, ending November 17, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found high levels of flu-like illness (pictured) in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and Texas, with the highest levels reported in Mississippi
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not released a concrete figure on the number of adult deaths so far this season.
But it warned Americans to be braced for a severe outbreak of flu from this month until May 2020.
Since September, adult deaths have been reported in Iowa, Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, and California, including one person aged 25 to 49 years old, one over the age of 50, and most over the age of 65.
Meanwhile, rates of people coming down with flu-like illness are soaring, particularly in the Deep South.
The most recent weekly flu report, ending November 17, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found high levels in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and Texas, with the highest levels reported in Mississippi.
CDC officials are urging Americans to get the flu shot before flu season takes hold.
In the UK, rates of the winter vomiting bug norovirus are also at their highest in five years and dozens of schools have been forced to close.
Bays on six wards have been closed at Southampton General Hospital, official said, to contain a norovirus outbreak
Parkside School in Bradford (pictured) closed on Tuesday for a deep clean after more than 15 per cent of its pupils and staff were struck down with an illness believed to be norovirus
Outbreaks of the virus have caused the NHS to shut more than 1,100 hospital beds in England in the last week.
People have been told to avoid visiting hospitals or their GP if they have the highly contagious bug, so they don’t pass it on.
Health chiefs said people should stay at home and wait at least 48 hours after symptoms pass to return to work or school.
It comes amid unprecedented pressure on the NHS, which experts say is ‘already pushed to its limits’.
Almost double the number of beds have been closed every day this week compared to last year, official figures show.
Dozens of schools across Britain have also been forced to shut due to a flurry of outbreaks of the winter vomiting bug
Norovirus spreads rapidly in hospitals and schools because people are in close quarters, while children can forget to practice proper hygiene.
Dozens of schools around the country were shut last week after outbreaks of the virus.
Students from Howden School in Goole, East Yorkshire, were reportedly sent home last Monday and told not to return until Thursday.
While Parkside School in nearby Bradford closed on Tuesday for a deep clean after more than 15 per cent of its pupils and staff were struck down.
Some schools in Northern Ireland have seen more than 100 pupils off sick at a time.
Around a quarter of the 360 pupils at Clandeboye Primary in Bangor, County Down, are off sick. The school has been closed today.
