A mystery ‘lurgy’ has infected several daytime TV stars in the same week a ‘tidal wave’ of seasonal illness has hit hospitals across England.
Daytime TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp complained of a ‘chest infection/ lurgy’ unlike any other she has had before.
The 53-year-old wrote on X yesterday: ‘I have been completely floored by this thing, what the hell is it?’
According to the property show star, she’s not the only celebrity to have been struck down by the illness.
‘It seems to have hit the celeb circuit particularly hard,’ she wrote, adding that she is ‘desperately’ searching for a well-known figure to replace her in a Christmas carol concert.
Presenter Jeremy Vine, 59, appeared to agree, commenting: ‘Everyone has got it’.
Former reality star and Good Morning Britain presenter Narinder Kaur, 51, added that she has also been wiped out with the illness, writing: ‘It’s been dreadful knocked me out for a few good weeks.’
Social media is also full of people complaining of the ‘worst cold ever’.
Daytime TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp complained of a ‘chest infection/ lurgy’ unlike any other she has had before
Allsopp is not the only one to be hit with the illness, as she comments that it has ‘hit the celeb circuit particularly hard’
One TikTok user named @courtneyskyexx posted to the social media site claiming she’s suffering a ‘blocked/ runny nose, sore and tickly throat, headache, sinus pain, earache and the worst body pains’.
Another content creator, named @hollyburnss, told her 38,900 followers that she feels like she is ‘dying’. She said: ‘One minute I’m freezing, the next I am sweating buckets, then I am coughing like a man, to then having no voice. But it’s not Covid. What is this?’
The testimonies come as NHS chiefs warn of alarming levels of flu hitting UK hospitals, with three times as many cases as this period last year.
According to the latest figures, flu hospitalisations have risen 70 per cent in the past week alone.
While symptoms may vary between people, the common cold is usually mild and more of a ‘nuisance’, while the flu or Covid can keep you in bed for days and could be fatal for vulnerable people.
It is possible that flu this year is worse than last.
Experts are warning that the vaccine — which is updated every year to protect against the latest form of flu — may provide inadequate protection against the version of the virus spreading in the UK.
The vaccine rolled out in Britain is modelled on the jab used in southern hemisphere countries like Australia and New Zealand, which had their winter flu season six months ago.
That’s because the same form of flu usually affects those countries months before it reaches the UK in the winter months.
But data suggests that this year the vaccine was around 30 per cent less effective than normal in southern hemisphere countries.
This means the UK could also have an ineffective jab.
Experts have also long predicted that post-pandemic flu seasons would be far worse than those that came before covid.
That’s because the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 disrupted seasonal cold and flu patterns, meaning people weren’t exposed to the virus for a long period of time.
This means that when people returned to their normal lives, their immune systems were weaker, and contracting these viruses made them sicker, Dr Eve Elizabeth Pennie, general practitioner previously told DailyMail.com.
Concerns had been raised over a ‘triple-demic’ of flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Covid-19.
But after a 86 per cent annual rise in norovirus cases in hospitals, the service has been warned to brace for a ‘quad-demic’.
The NHS is encouraging eligible people to get vaccinated against the flu without delay if they haven’t done so already.
Norovirus, also called the vomiting bug, is up 10 per cent from last week and almost two thirds since (64 per cent) last year.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: ‘The tidal wave of flu cases and other seasonal viruses hitting hospitals is really concerning for patients and for the NHS — the figures are adding to our “quad-demic” worries.
‘While the NHS has plans in place to manage additional demand over the busy winter period, with one week left to book your vaccine, I cannot stress enough the importance of getting booked in to protect yourself against serious illness and to avoid festive flu.’
Danielle Jefferies, Senior Analyst at think tank The King’s Fund, said the situation look ‘fraught’ for the NHS this winter.
‘Levels of flu and other respiratory illnesses are already substantially rising and putting pressure on services, there are considerable ambulance delays, and 95 per cent of beds in hospitals are occupied which is well above the level considered safe,’ she said.
