LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The UK is facing an “unprecedented wave of super flu,” a health chief has warned, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer Friday denounced “reckless” plans by doctors to launch a five-day strike next week.

“The ‘super flu’ epidemic sweeping the country means this is the NHS’s most precarious moment since the pandemic,” Starmer wrote in The Guardian daily referring to the National Health Service.

The resident doctors strikes just before Christmas “should not happen. They are reckless. They place the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger,” he added.

NHS figures published on Thursday showed flu cases at a record level for the time of year.

The number of cases jumped 55 percent in a week to an average of 2,660 patients in hospital each day last week.

“With record demand... and an impending resident (junior) doctors strike, this unprecedented wave of super flu is leaving the NHS facing a worst-case scenario for this time of year,” said NHS national medical director Meghana Pandit.

Health minister Wes Streeting told The Times newspaper the numbers could triple before they peak and said the situation in hospitals was already “inexcusable.”

The functioning of the NHS is a major political issue in Britain, with Starmer’s beleaguered Labor government under pressure to bring down waiting times.

The planned strike from Wednesday will be the 14th walkout by medics since March 2023 if it goes ahead.

Attempts to reduce patient waiting lists have been affected in part by the repeated industrial action by both resident doctors and consultants.

The resident doctors — those below consultant level — are in dispute with the government over pay and a shortage of training opportunities.

Streeting has agreed to the doctors’ union’s demand that UK-trained medics get priority for training posts over candidates from overseas.