It comes as new data from NHS England shows hospital norovirus cases remain close to the record high seen last week, with an average of 1,134 patients per day in hospital compared to 1,160.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “These statistics show that we are still not out of the winter woods, and I want to thank all NHS staff for their hard work in the face of substantial pressures on the health service.
“While pressures on hospitals remain incredibly high, people should continue to use NHS services in the normal way – using 111 and 111 online if you need advice and support for health conditions, and only using 999 or attending A&E in life-threatening emergencies.”.
The NHS England data released on Thursday also shows that time lost to ambulance handover delays rose by more than a fifth (22%) in the last week (to 22,796 hours compared with 18,688 the week before).
Amy Douglas, lead epidemiologist at the UKHSA, said: “Norovirus levels are still exceptionally high and now with multiple genotypes spreading at the same time, people could end up getting infected more than once this season.
