Fears of ‘second surge’ of norovirus as cases rise
By Lee Peart
19 February 2026
Fears are rising of a ‘second surge’ of norovirus after the vomiting bug reached its highest level this winter.
(c) CDC/Unsplash
There were over 1,000 patients in hospital with norovirus each day this week for the first time this winter, according to NHSE England.
NHS national medical director, Dr Claire Fuller, said: ‘It’s vital that we do all we can to avoid a second surge in norovirus at a time when the NHS remains flat out coping with winter pressures.’
Having briefly stabilised in the first of week of February, figures rose for the second week in a row, up by 929 (8.9%) on the previous week.
The average number of norovirus patients in hospitals per day rose by more than 2.5 times from the start to the end of January (from 361 to 950).
The average daily number of adult hospital beds closed due to norovirus symptoms this week (1,257) is also up more than 8% (8.2%) on last week (1,162) – and has risen by over 190% on the first full week of January (432).
This comes as hospitals continue to deal with high levels of demand, with almost 3,000 (2,837) more ambulance handovers with known handover times compared with the same week last year.
Despite this, teams continued to handover patients on average more quickly than last year (32:03 vs 32:23).