A man receives a flu jab (Stock image)
(Picture: PA Wire)There are “encouraging signs” that London is past the peak of the flu wave, a top health professor has said.
Azeem Majeed, Professor and Head of the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Imperial College London, said that a surge in flu cases had arrived early this year but appeared to now be in decline.
“It was a particularly large wave because we have low levels of immunity because of previous winters with Covid restrictions but it seems to have peaked,” he told the Standard.
“It's very likely as we go into February, we will see fewer NHS trusts declare critical incidents.”
"Flu will probably recede and won’t come back until next autumn. But with Covid we have seen waves of infection at different points of the year. Hopefully now the population has high immunity those rates will come down."
Analysis by the UK Health Security Agency published last Thursday found that swab positivity for flu decreased by 13 per cent in the week up to January 8. Infections are highest among 5 to 14-year-olds.
The latest NHS figures show that the number of patients in hospital fell during the same time period.
A total of 332 beds were occupied with flu patients in London hospitals on January 8 – a drop of 8 per cent on the week before.
Hospital admission rates have decreased in adults aged 75 and over.
But London continues to the lowest number of flu vaccinations administered of any region in England, with 2,106,407 jabs given out as of January 12.
Prof Majeed added: “While London always lags behind on vaccination for every illness, it is protected somewhat by its younger population. Both factors work in different directions.”
Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics estimated that around 3.5 per cent of Londoners caught Covid in the week up to January 3.
It is a drop from the figure of 4.3 per cent reported the previous week.
The capital had the joint lowest infection rate in the country, tied with the North West.
And the rate of Covid-19 hospital admissions in England is also down week-on-week from 10.8 per 100,000 people to 9.1.
Patient numbers in Scotland and Wales are also starting to drop, while in Northern Ireland the trend is currently unclear.
