Hong Kong enters winter peak flu season with 23 outbreaks in schools or public facilities in past four days, nearly six times that of last two weeks
- Authorities expect number of cases to continue to rise and urge public to get vaccinated as early as possible, and observe strict hygiene
- Overall admission rate with an influenza diagnosis in public hospitals passes threshold of 0.25 per 10,000 people last week, reaching the 0.40 mark
Hong Kong has entered the winter peak flu season, according to health authorities who say there have been 23 outbreaks reported so far in schools or public facilities this week, nearly six times the number recorded over the last two weeks.
“We anticipate that local seasonal influenza activity will continue to rise in the coming weeks and remain at an elevated level for some time,” a spokesman for the Centre for Health Protection under the Department of Health said on Thursday.
“We again urge the public, particularly children, the elderly and patients with chronic diseases, to get vaccinated as early as possible and observe strict personal, hand and environmental hygiene at all times.”
According to records from the centre, 10.1 per cent of respiratory samples from patients tested positive for seasonal influenza A and B viruses last week, passing the baseline threshold of 9.2 per cent.
Influenza A accounted for an overwhelming 96.7 per cent in the past two weeks, with very few influenza B results. The overall admission rate with an influenza diagnosis in public hospitals also passed the threshold of 0.25 per 10,000 people last week, reaching the 0.40 mark.
Twenty-three outbreaks were recorded in institutions in the first four days of this week, affecting 95 people while there were only four cases in the past two weeks involving 15 patients.