UpdateNo H3N2 flu vaccine available until April as Hong Kong death toll jumps to 81

A vaccine to protect against a deadly influenza strain which has now claimed 81 lives in Hong Kong will not be available until April - after the winter flu peak is expected to have died down.

It is likely to arrive too late to have any effect, according to an expert in the city, where the existing vaccine has failed to prove a match for this winter's dominant virus strain - a mutated variant of the H3N2 virus known as a Switzerland strain.

The news came as seven more flu patients died yesterday. On Thursday, 10 patients died, the highest daily death toll of this season's epidemic so far. The death toll of 81 from just this month compares to the 149 flu deaths from all of last year.

Between January 2 and yesterday, 143 people, including children, had been admitted to intensive care units with severe flu. All the deaths were adults.

Food and Health Secretary Dr Ko Wing-man said artificial lungs were being used to help the most seriously ill to breathe. "The Hospital Authority has 12 artificial lungs in five hospitals; two are in use. I will closely monitor the situation," he said.

French vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur said the company was completing its vaccines for the southern hemisphere's upcoming flu season, which typically starts in May, and jabs for Hong Kong doctors would not be ready for another three months.

"By then, most people in the community are expected to carry antibodies against the flu strain," said Dr Leung Chi-chiu, a member of the Centre for Health Protection's scientific committee on infection control.