GP flu consultation rates increased once more in the past week but officials think spread of the infection may have reached a peak.
Surveillance data shows a consultation rate of 23.1 per 100,000 in the week up to the 12 January compared with 20.6 per 100,000 the week before.
But the UK Health Security Agency said it was a mixed picture overall with fewer people seeking help for flu at emergency departments.
Other signs, including laboratory tests also suggest the spread of flu may be slowing down.
Among those tested, the weekly mean positivity rate fell from 28.4% to 20.9%, UKHSA data showed.
But hospitals remain ‘jampacked’ NHS England warned with 96% of acute hospital beds occupied, one in seven of which were people who were fit to be discharged.
The NHS is ‘not out of the woods yet’, with flu rates still 3.5 times higher than this time last year, Professor Julian Redhead, NHS national clinical director for urgent and emergency care said.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting said: ‘Despite NHS staff doing their level best, the experiences of patients this winter are unacceptable.
‘Annual winter pressures, which will always exist, should not automatically lead to an annual winter crisis.’
He added that more patients had been protected with flu vaccinations than last year, but there is much more to do.
‘It will take time to turn the health service around so patients receive the standards of care they deserve, but it can be done.’
Earlier this week NHS England said quarter of a million more people this winter had received a flu jab than last year.
Figures show 17,996,305 flu vaccinations were given on the NHS between 1 September 2024 and 5 January 2025, compared with 17,756,626 between 1 August 2023 and 7 January 2024.
An additional 85,000 jabs were delivered in the last three weeks alone, the figures show.
Minister for public health and prevention Andrew Gwynne said: ‘Flu is a serious illness which has put significant pressure on the NHS this winter.
‘Thanks to all the incredible healthcare staff who have gone above and beyond to vaccinate 18 million people against flu.’
