The British government on Friday urged doctors to call off a planned five-day strike shortly before Christmas amid an “unprecedented wave of super flu” affecting the UK, according to the British Public Health Service, reports AFP.
This year's dominant flu subtype, called A/H3N2 flu, has been around since 1968 and has mutated a lot to date, according to the Brighton Journal.
In addition to the increase in the number of flu cases from the previous period, this year's wave has also been associated with what many have called “super-flu”, a new mutation of the virus, notes the BBC.
The public hasn't been exposed to this new mutation much, which has led to more people getting the flu this year.
Experts said it is important to note that the so-called “super flu” is neither more serious nor more difficult to treat.
The so-called K subclade strain of the A(H3N2) influenza virus that circulates internationally has also been detected in Romania, according to the National Institute of Public Health.
According to the cited source, in Romania, the flu season was recorded at the beginning of December. During the week of December 1-7, 3,018 cases of clinical influenza were reported nationally, double the number recorded in the previous week.
British doctors, asked to stop protesting
In the context of the high number of illnesses registered in Great Britain, the Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Minister of Health, Wes Streeting, each launched a call to the “resident” doctors to give up the protest movement planned for the period 17-22 December, writes Agerpres.
Streeting pointed out in The Times that the public health service, the NHS, is in an “incredibly precarious situation” and is facing “unprecedented challenges after the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Reiterating his support for the right to strike, Keir Starmer said a five-day strike would be “irresponsible” and would put “the NHS and its patients at risk”, according to an editorial published in The Guardian.
Resuming the comparison with the COVID-19 pandemic, he estimated that “the idea of doing something serious in this context is really unimaginable”.
Record number of illnesses in the UK
According to statistics published by the NHS on Thursday, flu cases have reached a record high for this time of year.
The number of cases rose by 55% in a week, with an average of 2,660 patients being hospitalized each day last week.
“Against record demand for emergency services and ambulances, as well as the impending strike by resident doctors, this unprecedented wave of super flu puts the NHS in the worst possible situation for this time of year,” NHS national medical director Meghana Pandit warned.
The NHS, in deep crisis due to extremely long waiting times for appointments, is a major political stake for the Labor government, whose popularity is falling.
If the strike, expected to start on Wednesday, is confirmed, it will be the 14th such action by doctors since March 2023.
