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Anyone feeling unwell should wear a mask if they have to leave their home, officials have said.

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) bosses also advise people to delay going back to work and school to avoid spreading bugs and piling pressure on the NHS.

The alert comes amid a surge in Covid, flu and scarlet fever cases. 

It also follows warnings that up to 500 people a week are dying due to the dire crisis in emergency care.

But critics described the call to mask up as ‘virtue signalling control’. 

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Top doctors say the current situation within the NHS is ‘much worse’ than during the darkest days of the pandemic.

Patients have been left waiting for up to four days in A&E for a bed – against a target of four hours. 

More than a dozen NHS organisations declared critical incidents over Christmas and the New Year. 

There are now calls for a national declaration of a major incident.

Health chiefs fear the return to work and school this week will pile on extra pressure as people pass on bugs they picked up over the festive period. 

A lack of socialising during lockdowns has reduced immunity and, as a result, left many vulnerable to infections.

Millions of us ditched masks when the Government axed their requirement by law. People were made to wear them indoors at the peak of the virus crisis.

Some scientists have already called for a widespread return of face masks in public settings, in order to thwart the spread of the virus and other bugs this winter. 

But, during the peak of the pandemic, top experts clashed over whether coverings truly helped. 

Renée Hoenderkamp, a GP and medical writer, said of the UKHSA’s call to mask up: ‘We have never done this before Covid, don’t do it now.’

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