Hong Kong’s winter flu season has started, health authorities warn, with number of outbreaks doubling in a week
- Centre for Health Protection says flu activity expected to further increase in coming weeks, urges residents to ‘heighten their vigilance’
- Number of outbreaks of flu-like illnesses almost doubled to 21 in the period from Sunday to Wednesday
Hong Kong’s winter flu season has started, health authorities have warned, with the number of outbreaks in schools and care homes doubling this week.
The Centre for Health Protection on Thursday said influenza activity was expected to further increase in the coming weeks, and urged residents to “heighten their vigilance” and step up personal protection against the virus.
“According to the surveillance data as at January 6, local seasonal influenza activity has continued to increase and exceeded the baseline thresholds, indicating that Hong Kong has entered the winter influenza season,” the centre said.
Official data showed that nearly 12 per cent of respiratory specimens handled by public laboratories tested positive for the virus last week, exceeding the threshold indicating the start of the flu surge season.
Most of the infections, or around 77 per cent, were influenza A subtype H3.
The admission rate to public hospitals for people with a primary diagnosis of flu passed the level signalling the start of the surge period in the last week of December. The rate increased further in the first week this month.
The rate was highest among children aged five or below, at 3.819 per 10,000. Following that were people aged 65 or older, with a rate of 1.356.
