Number of people in hospital with flu in England rises by a third to over 1,000

Increase in admissions over Christmas period comes as junior doctors stage longest strike in NHS history in pay dispute

More than 1,000 people are in hospital with flu across England, with the figure increasing by more than a third over the Christmas period, according to figures released by the NHS.

The data shows there were an average of 1,313 people in hospital with the virus each day during the week ending 31 December. That was an increase of a third on the week before, when the figure was 942.