The British Health Safety Authority released a report on October 30 that the UK flu season this year is "abnormally early", and the number of cases in various age groups continues to rise, especially among minors.

Surveillance reports on influenza and other diseases during the week of October 20-26 show that influenza viruses in the 2025/2026 influenza season are spreading widely in the community, and their activity has been higher than baseline. Hospital test data showed that the positive rate of influenza virus among minors aged 5 to 14 rose to 30.8%, a significant increase from 20% in the previous week.

The data showed that the UK influenza test positive rate increased, with an average positive rate of 8.2% per week as of the 26th as compared to 6.1% in the previous week.

Alex Allen, an epidemiological consultant at the UK Health Safety Authority, noted that the early start of the flu season this year was unusual, the number of infected minors rose sharply and the infection rate in other age groups also grew, indicating that the virus has begun to spread more widely in the community.