{"id":155313,"date":"2025-09-23T11:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T11:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/155313\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T11:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T11:53:07","slug":"health-chiefs-issue-48-hour-warning-to-britons-over-incredibly-infectious-winter-vomiting-bug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/155313\/","title":{"rendered":"Health chiefs issue 48-hour warning to Britons over ‘incredibly infectious’ winter vomiting bug"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britons are being urged by health authorities to stay home for 48 hours after recovering from norovirus, as the virus remains highly infectious once symptoms subside.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the “winter vomiting bug”, norovirus strikes down 685 million people worldwide every single year, killing 200,000 of them, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).<\/p>\n

In a warning issued to Britons over social media last week, the UKHSA warned: “Norovirus is incredibly infectious, so if you’re feeling unwell, stay home for 48 hours after symptoms stop as you are still infectious during this time.”<\/p>\n

In July, the NHS shared a notice highlighting that norovirus cases were higher than normal, reminding Britons that the virus can spread all year round, causing diarrhoea and vomiting.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Norovirus can bring on a host of unpleasant symptoms <\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

However, the health body notes on its website that it is often dubbed the “winter vomiting bug” because it tends to spread more aggressively during the colder months.<\/p>\n

Children bear the brunt of it, with 200 million cases in under-fives alone. And 50,000 of those child deaths happen mostly in poorer countries where healthcare is harder to access.<\/p>\n

The financial toll is a staggering \u00a348billion globally when you add up healthcare costs and lost productivity.<\/p>\n

What is norovirus?<\/p>\n

Norovirus is a viral illness that brings on a host of unpleasant symptoms, including a fever of 38C or higher. Those infected are still contagious for 48 hours after they feel better.<\/p>\n

The NHS warns it’s “incredibly infectious,” explaining why it spreads quickly through schools, care homes and cruise ships.<\/p>\n

The main symptoms of norovirus usually start suddenly and may include:<\/p>\n

feeling sickbeing sick (vomiting)diarrhoea<\/p>\n

You may also have:<\/p>\n

a high temperaturea headachetummy painbody aches and pains<\/p>\n

Cases in England have shot up dramatically this year. The UK Health Security Agency found that between late May and late June, there were 16,679 laboratory-confirmed cases – that’s a massive 124.2 per cent jump compared to what’s typical for that time of year.<\/p>\n

While the NHS took to social media to warn people that cases in July, the UKHSA’s recent July data showed cases had dropped to “low” levels.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The NHS urges Britons to absolutely must stay home for two full days after symptoms stop<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

How to protect yourself?<\/p>\n

The NHS urges Britons to absolutely must stay home for two full days after their symptoms stop – that’s when you’re still spreading it around.<\/p>\n

What’s more, hand sanitiser won’t touch norovirus. You need proper soap and water, especially after using the loo or before handling food.<\/p>\n

If someone’s been sick at home, wash their bedding and clothes at 60C separately from everything else. Give toilet seats, taps, and door handles a good clean too.<\/p>\n

Ring 111 if diarrhoea lasts more than a week or vomiting goes beyond two days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britons are being urged by health authorities to stay home for 48 hours after recovering from norovirus, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,50,2331,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-155313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}