Hong Kong Reports 496 Influenza Cases and 20 Deaths in Recent Outbreak

The Centre for Health Protection in Hong Kong has reported a surge in seasonal influenza cases, leading to a significant number of hospital admissions. As the city experiences the winter flu season since January, the number of cases has surpassed baseline levels.

During the week of February 4th to 10th, out of 7,777 respiratory samples collected, 496 tested positive for either type A or type B influenza virus, resulting in a positivity rate of 6.38%. While this figure is below the baseline of 9.21%, it indicates an increase from the previous week's rate of 5.22%. Among the confirmed cases, 29 severe incidents in adults required intensive care or resulted in death, with 20 fatalities. It is worth noting that four of the 29 adults had received the flu vaccine.

Additionally, between February 11th and 14th, there were eight more deaths, further highlighting the impact of the virus.

Children have also been affected by the severity of the flu strain this season. During the period from February 4th to 14th, two cases of serious influenza-related complications were observed in children. A three-year-old girl who had not been vaccinated and an eleven-year-old boy were diagnosed with severe pneumonia and encephalitis, respectively, both linked to the H3 strain of the type A influenza virus.

Alongside the influenza outbreak, the Centre for Health Protection continues to monitor COVID-19 variants closely. As of February 14th, there has been a slight increase in local cases. The number of positive tests for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleic acids rose from 615 to 644 compared to the previous week. The JN.1 variant has emerged as the predominant strain; however, there is currently no evidence suggesting that it causes more severe illness than previous strains such as the XBB lineage.

香港報告近期爆發496宗流感個案及20宗死亡事件

香港衛生防護中心報告了一起季節性流感個案激增的情況，導致大量入院病例增加。自一月份以來，香港正處於冬季流感季節，個案數字已超過基準水平。

在2月4日至10日的一周內，共收集了7777個呼吸道樣本，其中496個呈陽性，檢測出A型或B型流感病毒，陽性率為6.38%。雖然這個數字低於9.21%的基準水平，但相比前一周的5.22%，顯示有所增加。在確診個案中，有29個成年人嚴重病例需要重症監護或導致死亡，其中20例為死亡個案。值得注意的是，這29個成年人中有4人接種了流感疫苗。

此外，在2月11日至14日期間，又有8宗死亡事件，進一步凸顯了該病毒的影響。

本季流感病毒對兒童的嚴重性也不容忽視。在2月4日至14日期間，兩名兒童出現了與流感相關的嚴重併發症。一名未接種疫苗的三歲女童被診斷為嚴重肺炎，一名十一歲男童被診斷為腦炎，兩者均與A型流感病毒的H3株相關。

與流感疫情同時，香港衛生防護中心繼續密切監測COVID-19的變異株。截至2月14日，本地確診病例數量略有增加。與前一週相比，確診新型冠狀病毒2型（SARS-CoV-2）核酸陽性測試數量從615增至644。JN.1變異株已成為主要株系，但目前沒有證據表明該變異株比之前的株系（如XBB系列）引起更嚴重的疾病。