Experts have issued fresh guidance including a “stay at home” message and face masks to help deal with high levels of winter infections including flu, Covid-19 and invasive Strep A disease.

The guidance comes as people across the country return to work following the Christmas holiday and children return to school.

The number of patients in hospital with flu in England has “skyrocketed” according to new data, sparking warnings that this season could be more severe than in pre-pandemic years.

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An average of 1,939 people with flu were in hospital each day last week, up 67pc on 1,162 the previous week, according to NHS England.

Prof Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said it is “important” to minimise the spread of infections as pupils return to school.

She said: “If your child is unwell and has a fever, they should stay home from school or nursery until they feel better and the fever has resolved.

“Adults should also try to stay home when unwell and if you do have to go out, wear a face covering.”

NHS pressure ‘intolerable and unsustainable’

It comes as medics warned the pressure on the NHS is “intolerable and unsustainable” amid warnings that the deaths of up to 500 people each week could be caused by delays in emergency care.

Professor Phil Banfield, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, hit out at both the prime minister and the health secretary as he offered a stark warning about the scale of the crisis facing healthcare workers.

“The current situation in the NHS is intolerable and unsustainable, both for our patients and the hard-working staff desperately trying to keep up with incredibly high levels of demand,” he said.

“The BMA has repeatedly invited the government to sit down and talk about the pressures on our health service, but their silence is deafening.

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“It is disingenuous for the prime minister to talk about ‘backing the NHS’ in his New Year message when his own health secretary is failing to discuss how this crisis can be fixed."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “NHS staff do an incredible job and we recognise the pressures the NHS is facing following the impact of the pandemic.

“That’s why we’ve backed the NHS and social care with up to £14.1 billion additional funding over the next two years and this winter we have provided an extra £500 million to speed up hospital discharge and free up beds.

“We also awarded a 9.3pc pay rise to the lowest earners in the NHS last year.

“The health secretary and ministers have met with unions several times and have been clear their door remains open to further discuss how we can work together to improve the working lives of NHS staff.”