Hospital cases of norovirus reach new high

THE number of patients in hospital in England with norovirus has jumped 45% to reach a new high for this winter, figures show.

- JANE KIRBY & IAN JONES

An average of 823 hospital beds were filled each day last week by people with diarrhoea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms. This is up sharply from the previous week's average of 567 patients and is higher than this point last year, when 784 patients were filling hospital beds.

Somerset is one of the worst impacted areas.

Meanwhile, the number of people in hospital with flu in England has fallen for the second week in a row, with an average of 2,519 flu patients each day during the week ending January 18, down 8% from 2,725 the previous week. Delayed discharges are at their highest so far this winter.

An average of 13,683 beds last week were filled with patients considered fit to be discharged, up from 13,445 the previous week. The 823 patients with norovirus in England last week were spread across only a third of hospital trusts, according to PA analysis of NHS data.