Don't give granny flu at Christmas: Calls not to mix with relatives if you are ill

Britons were last night urged not to mix with loved ones if they feel unwell over Christmas to avoid passing on illnesses and overwhelming the NHS. Britons were last night urged not to mix with loved ones if they feel unwell over Christmas to avoid passing on illnesses and overwhelming the NHS And Dr Mary Ramsay, a director at the UK Health Security Agency, said eligible adults should get their flu and Covid jabs. Bosses warn the service is going into the weekend with an unsafe number of patients on wards, skeleton staffing levels and is 'dangerously close to overheating completely' The health service is braced for its 'darkest' ever festive period as it battles a flu surge, a bed-blocking crisis and the aftermath of strikes An average of 1,939 patients with flu were in hospital each day last week – up 67 per cent on 1,162 the previous week, according to NHS England. One in four ambulance patients in England – 16,379 in total – waited more than an hour to be handed to A&E teams last week thanks to a combination of bed shortages and increased demand. Influenza batters NHS with cases up to SIXTY times higher this year than last winter, figures show Another FIVE children die of Strep A as UK's death toll hits 24 Prepare for MORE ambulance chaos!