School closures and health alert… A mutated influenza strikes the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is witnessing a rising wave of infections with a mutated strain of the influenza virus, which has prompted a number of schools to temporarily close, while other educational institutions have taken precautionary measures to limit the spread of infection.

According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, hospitals recorded record numbers of infected people, reaching about 1,717 admissions per day during the last week of last November, a noticeable increase that ignited health fears in the country.

Health authorities attribute this rapid spread to a mutated version of the influenza A (H3N2) strain, also known as the K substrain, calling on citizens to wear masks as soon as symptoms of the disease appear.

Consecutive closures

St. Martin’s School in Caerphilly, South Wales, announced a temporary closure after more than 250 students and staff were infected. The Welsh Government has also implemented what is known as a “fire lockdown”, a short and sharp measure it has used during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The symptoms that appeared on the students varied between vomiting, diarrhea, high fever, cough, headache, and fatigue, in addition to symptoms similar to the regular flu.

In Cheshire (Chester), Congleton High School closed its doors for three days (from 26 to 28 November) to conduct a deep cleaning after an increase in infections among students. Dansfield Middle School in Williton – Somerset was also closed at the end of November, with the aim of “breaking the chain of infection” after a widespread outbreak of the virus.

In Leeds, Wigton Moor Primary School reduced school gatherings, especially after one child out of every six students was absent during the past week due to illness.

Pressure on the health system

For his part, the CEO of the National Health Service in England, Sir Jim Mackey, warned that the health sector is facing pressures that may be similar in some aspects to those that the country witnessed during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He expected influenza patients to occupy between 5,000 and 8,000 hospital beds daily by next week, a number that exceeds the previous peak recorded last January, which amounted to 5,408 beds.