A worse flu season is expected this year, which could combine with Covid to create a dangerous “twindemic”, experts fear.
There are concerns it could overload the NHS, which is trying to cope with record backlogs.
Figures from the Southern Hemisphere, which usually foretell what will happen in the UK, indicate a flu surge two months earlier than normal, driven by under-30s.
It suggests a spike in flu hospital admissions in Britain could begin in October, including many children. One estimate is the flu season could be twice as large as normal.
Sir Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases at Oxford University, said: “[It] could come earlier and bigger, then you have a ‘twindemic’ with Covid-19 and that could put real pressure on the NHS.”
In a typical season there are between 15,000 and 30,000 flu hospitalisations.
Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at Reading University, said: “We’ve never had a [flu and Covid] dual outbreak so I’m concerned this UK season could be particularly bad. Catching flu and Covid together is particularly dangerous.
“We have the NHS under huge pressure as it catches up [from the pandemic] so you have a problem there.”
The health service waiting list has hit a record 6.8 million in England.
And A&Es are often full with ambulances frequently queueing outside with patients they cannot unload.
Covid infections have started to rise again, up 20% from two weeks ago, with one in 42 people currently having the disease, latest figures suggest.
