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A leading scientist has advised Britain to prepare for an early flu outbreak that would coincide with an increase in cases of COVID-19 and monkeypox.
Health officials have stated that because there hasn’t been a “real” flu season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are anticipating a “early influenza wave” in the UK.
A type of influenza that “began early and expanded swiftly across all age categories” has Australia, which is presently experiencing winter, on high alert, according to Dr. Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
According to her, the nation is “going through its worst flu season in five years,” and the UK might experience a similar outbreak as early as September.
Dr. Hopkins also mentioned that there will be at least one more COVID-19 wave this year along with a “ongoing transmission of monkeypox.”
The NHS is also under increasing threat from COVID-19, as the colder season and shorter days encourage more social interaction indoors, where infections are more likely to transmit.
Flu epidemics are more common between September and March because colder weather keeps more people indoors, where viruses like Covid find it easier to spread. Flu is a seasonal threat to the NHS.
However, during the lockdowns that were implemented last winter to stop the spread of COVID-19, influenza almost disappeared.
According to The Telegraph, experts are now worried about the lack of population immunity as a result of the pandemic and the possibility of a harsh winter that might destroy the NHS.
The Royal Society of Medicine sponsored a webinar on Thursday, and Dr. Hopkins said: “We are preparing for an influenza wave.” I don’t know if there is a following for Australia, but we are keeping a very close eye.
We anticipate an early influenza wave because it started earlier and spread rapidly across all age categories.
Although influenza doesn’t typically start spreading until the end of November or early December, it might happen as early as late September or early October, so that’s what we’re preparing for.
Dr. Hopkins also mentioned that there will be at least one more Covid wave this year along with a “ongoing transmission of monkeypox.”
Once the present wave has passed, she continued, “We will witness at least one COVID-19 wave in the autumn-winter.” Additionally, monkeypox will continue to spread across the population for at least the following six months.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 1.3 million persons in England are believed to have become ill during the week ending June 18—an increase of 5% from the previous estimate. However, the increase week over week is only half of the 40% jump noted in the estimate from last week.
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are seeing an increase in cases as well.
The current wave “may be decreasing” already, experts earlier told MailOnline, and “may not go so high after all.” However, they acknowledged that the pinnacle is still to come.
The UK Health Security Agency has now officially acknowledged for the first time that the Omicron sub-strains BA.4 and BA.5 are the predominant strains in the country.
They are believed to be just as mild but significantly more contagious than their ancestors, who were to blame for instances reaching epidemic highs in December and April.
In the meantime, officials today announced that there are now over 1,000 instances of monkeypox in the UK as the rare disease continues to spread.
Bosses of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported that as of Sunday, there had been 1,076 infections, nearly twice as many as two weeks prior.
Authorities have stated that they anticipate the number of cases to increase significantly in the upcoming days and have advised everyone to “be aware” for symptoms when attending big parties or having sex with new partners.
The number of new cases has increased to 20 to 40 per day, according to Dr. Hopkins, who also predicted that this year would be considerably harder than usual.