The Ministry of Health published this evening (Wednesday) the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control report, indicating a continued increase in flu cases over the past week.
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The number of people hospitalized with the flu increased from 394 in the last week of November to 514 new positive cases - of which 178 are children and 18 are pregnant women.
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7 children and 13 adults are hospitalized in intensive care.
The data refers to 14 hospitals that constitute 60% of the hospitalization system, so the true data is about 40% higher and actually indicates about 700 hospitalized patients and 24 hospitalized in intensive care.
So far, 40 people have died with laboratory confirmation of influenza, including two 6-year-old children, a 10-and-a-half-year-old girl, and 3 adults aged 35-65. The rest of the deceased are over the age of 65.
The report shows that 511 out of 90 subjects with respiratory symptoms who were tested in laboratory tests were positive for influenza. This means that about half of those suffering from an illness that includes fever, cough, etc. probably contracted influenza.
The rate of referrals to clinics due to flu-like illness continued to rise over the past week, reaching the threshold of high activity.
According to the Ministry of Health, such a high rate of applications at such an early stage of the year has not been seen in any of the last few years.
