“It is concerning to see the number of patients with norovirus hit an all-time high and there is no let-up for hospital staff who are working tirelessly to treat more than a thousand patients each day with the horrible bug, on top of other winter viruses,” said Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England.
“Most hospital acquired norovirus is spread by people with symptoms – and so the lesson is that if you are sick, try to reduce mixing close contact indoors and especially avoid sharing things like food or drinks, and especially for those more at risk clinically or the elderly,” he said.
The number of patients with Covid is also rising, albeit slightly, while the number of children in hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has continued to climb, and flu cases in hospital remain high, despite falling.
The number of norovirus patients in hospital in England has reached an all-time high, figures have revealed, with experts saying a return to pre-pandemic behaviours could be fuelling the situation.
According to data from NHS England, on average 1,160 patients a day were in hospital with norovirus last week, a 22% rise compared with the week before.
