December 26, 2024
Source: SCMP
Photo / Image Source: Unsplash,
Hong Kong has recorded four severe cases of influenza resulting in three deaths over the past week, with health authorities also observing a slight increase in local Covid-19 activity.
The Centre for Health Protection on Thursday released an update of influenza and coronavirus infections for the week from December 15 to 21.
The data revealed four adult influenza cases that required intensive care unit admission or resulted in death during the period, a decrease from the six cases reported the previous week that resulted in five deaths.
The centre also recorded an outbreak of Covid-19 infections in a care home for the elderly involving four people during the period, a rise from no cases in the prior week.
Two severe Covid-19 cases including deaths were recorded, compared with just one over the previous week.
“The latest surveillance data showed that the overall local activity of Covid-19 has slightly increased but still remains at a low level,” it said, adding that the overall influenza activity also remained low.
The latest data also showed that JN.1 was the most prevalent variant, while KP.2 and KP.3 were also detected in the sewage surveillance and human infection cases.
But the centre added there was no indication that any of the three variants would cause a more severe disease than the previous prevalent XBB variant and its descendant lineages.
As for influenza, the overall admission rates in public hospitals with principal diagnosis of influenza stood at 0.06 per 10,000 people during the week, which was below the baseline threshold of 0.27 and remained the same as the previous week, according to data.
The centre also recorded an outbreak of influenza-like illnesses in a secondary school and one in a residential care home for the elderly, affecting a total of 10 people.
“Influenza can cause serious illnesses in high-risk individuals and even healthy persons,” the centre said, urging residents to get vaccinated to protect themselves against seasonal influenza and its complications.
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