The guidance followed NHS England data yesterday that showed an average of 1,100 adult hospital beds closed or occupied each day last week due to norovirus.

Amy Douglas, lead epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: ‘Norovirus activity has remained high in recent weeks, particularly among those aged 65 years and over and is now increasing among children aged under 5 years as well. Outbreaks in hospital settings have also increased.'

Overall, norovirus laboratory reports between weeks 3 and 4 of 2026 (12 January 2026 to 25 January 2026) were 73.8% higher than the 5-season average for the same 2-week period and 18.3% higher than during the previous 2-week period.

In better news, the latest respiratory surveillance data shows cases of flu and RSV continue to fall.

Flu surveillance data for week 4 (19 to 25 January 2026) showed positivity decreased with a weekly mean positivity rate of 6.9% compared with 9.7% in the previous week.

Overall, flu hospitalisations were decreasing at 3.34 per 100,000 compared with 4.71 per 100,000 in the previous week.