CATCHING both flu and Covid-19 could double your risk of death and Brits have been urged to come forward for their flu jabs.
Health experts have warned of a potential ‘twindemic’ this winter as fewer people will have built up natural immunity to the flu during the Covid-19 pandemic.
On average, flu kills around 11,000 people in England every winter.
Deaths from flu could reach 60,000 this winter and it is thought that the UK could see the worst fatality rate in 50 years.
This, experts say would be the worst case scenario.
During the last bad flu winter in 2017-18, the figure was double this with almost 300 people a day dying from the virus.
Flu and other winter viruses are responsible for more than 1,000 hospital admissions a day in winter months.
At present across the UK over 600 people a day are being admitted to hospital with coronavirus and 122 are dying from Covid-19.
The government has launched its biggest ever campaign to get people to have their flu jab.
A previous report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that the risk of death more than doubled in people who had both Covid and the flu.
The highest risk groups for flu are the same as Covid, topped by the over-50s and clinically vulnerable, and a record 35million people will be eligible for a free jab with 30m getting Covid boosters.
Scientists don’t know how well the flu vaccines will work this year – they usually base them on strains circulating in Australia’s winter but there haven’t been any major outbreaks.
Dr Jenny Harries, chief of the UK Health Security Agency, said: “We are facing a challenging winter but we can all help ourselves and those around us by taking up the Covid-19 booster and flu vaccine, if eligible.”
