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UK braced for Tripledemic as Covid, mystery Chinese virus and flu take over

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    Health experts are panicking as the world teeters on the edge of a horrifying Tripledemic health crisis.

    A mystery pneumonia virus coming out of China has already hit Europe, while Coronavirus is still running riot almost everywhere. And those, coupled with the latest strain of winter flu โ€“ also known as respiratory syncytial virus โ€“, has seen hospitals flooded with patients as experts warn of a Tripledemic.

    The term was first coined in 2022, which was the first real winter period after the world reopened from the Coronavirus pandemic. This saw more and more people exposed to viruses that they had largely been shielded from for the previous two years.

    READ MORE: Key symptoms of potentially lethal '100-day cough' revealed as disease grips Britain

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    But now, with another virus coming from China, the fears of an even worse Tripledemic appear to be becoming a reality.

    Dr Mandy Cohen, director of the United States' Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said: โ€œRSV season is in full swing. The flu season is just beginning across most of the country, though accelerating fast. And while weโ€™re seeing relatively low levels of COVID, COVID is still the primary cause of new respiratory hospitalizations and deaths, with about 15,000 hospitalizations and about 1,000 deaths every single week.โ€

    And a spokesman for the CDC said: โ€œCDC has been monitoring increases in respiratory illness reported recently around the world, including in China and several European countries. CDC is working closely with international, state, and local public health partners to maintain strong situational awareness.โ€

    • Highly contagious and potentially lethal '100-day cough' sweeping across Britain

    The UK's latest Covid and Flu surveillance stats showed that the overall flu hospital admission for the week ending December 1 remained low at 0.50 per 100,000 population, but that was a rise compared to 0.39 per 100,000 the week before.

    Those aged 75 to 84 years have the highest level of hospital admissions, with a rate of 1.69 per 100,000 population. The stats also showed that London had the highest Covid hospital admissions out of the entire country, with 3.54 per 100,000.

    Dr Mary Ramsay, Director of Public Health Programmes at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: โ€œOver half of those aged under 65 years in a clinical risk group, and over two-thirds of pregnant women have not yet come forward for their flu vaccine this winter. Getting vaccinated as soon as possible will help reduce your risk of getting seriously ill with flu or COVID-19 this festive season.โ€

    And to mate matters worse, there is also a rise in whooping cough among youngster, which can take around 100 days to clear up if infected.

    The UKHSA and World Health Organisation are monitoring the situation with the mystery China virus closely.

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    • World Health Organisation
    • China
    • London
    • Coronavirus
    • Science

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