Norovirus hospital admissions soar by 45% as winter bug peaks

The number of patients in hospital in England with norovirus has jumped 45% to reach a new high for this winter.

An average of 823 hospital beds were filled each day last week by people with diarrhoea and vomiting or norovirus-like symptoms.T

This is up sharply from the previous week’s average of 567 patients.It is also higher than the figure at this point last year, which was 784 patients.

The data has been published in the latest weekly snapshot of the performance of hospitals in England this winter.

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Source: The Independent, 22 January 2026