The winter influenza epidemic, which started early in early September, decreased slightly throughout October but has been on the rise again for the past two consecutive weeks.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), sentinel surveillance of suspected influenza cases at clinic-level medical institutions showed that the suspected influenza patient fraction during the last week of October (October 25 – 31) was 22.8 per 1,000 outpatients, an increase of 3.6 from the previous week (19.2 per 1,000).

Over the past four weeks, the suspected patient fractions per 1,000 outpatients were 21.6, 17.7, 19.2, and 22.8, indicating that the flu epidemic is spreading once again.

While cases are increasing across all age groups, the incidence rate remains relatively high among children and adolescents.

The suspected patient fraction per 1,000 outpatients was 60.9 for children aged 7 to 12, 37.4 for those aged 13 to 18, and 33.1 for those aged 1 to 6.

The number of hospitalized patients compiled from 223 hospital-level sentinel surveillance medical institutions also rose to 461 in the last week of October, an increase of 73 from the previous week (389).

The KDCA stated that the virus currently circulating is A(H1N1)pdm09, which is similar to this season's vaccine strain, and no mutations affecting resistance to antiviral treatments have been identified.

The KDCA is currently running the national influenza immunization program targeting adults aged 65 and older, pregnant women, and children aged 6 months to 14 years.

As of 6:00 p.m. on November 5, the vaccination rate stood at 71.1% (approximately 8.14 million people) for seniors aged 65 and older, and 56.1% (approximately 2.78 million people) for children.

(Photo: Yonhap News)