00:00Hello, I'm Dr Chris Strether. I'm the Regional Medical Director for the NHS in London. I'm going
00:06to talk to you about the current situation with flu in London. We've got the worst flu season we've
00:12had since the COVID pandemic five and a half years ago. It's earlier in the year and the variant of
00:21flu we're seeing this year is easier to catch and easier to pass on. So that's resulted in three
00:28times as many people as we would expect at this this time of year being in hospital with symptoms
00:33of flu. There are lots of things that people can do to protect themselves against flu. It's best if
00:40people who've got symptoms, if they've got coughs or a runny nose and can avoid being out in public
00:48and avoid infecting other people. So people with symptoms should stay away from work and stay away
00:53from public transport and stay away from crowded places. It's important that those of us who are
01:00entitled or eligible to vaccination get vaccination promptly. The vaccination is very effective against
01:08the current strain of virus and is completely safe. So we'd tell people the eligible categories are
01:17children from 2 to 17, pregnant mothers, people over 65 and people suffering from long-term health conditions
01:25such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and lung disease. All these people can access vaccination
01:33via local pharmacies, via the NHS app or via the GP surgeries and we counsel people to get hold of these
01:41these promptly because it's never too late to get vaccinated.
