15 Hongkongers die from flu in one day as outbreak death toll nears 200
Victims all adults as virus claims most lives in a day since outbreak began
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 15 February, 2015, 3:41am
UPDATED : Sunday, 15 February, 2015, 8:42am
Emily Tsang [email protected]
The elderly and the seriously ill are the most vulnerable to the flu. Photo: Edward Wong
Fifteen more people died from influenza in hospital yesterday - the most in a day since the epidemic began at the start of winter, the Centre for Health Protection said.
All of the latest victims were adults, taking the death toll for the year to 196 - compared to 133 early last year, a spokesman for the centre said without elaborating on the cases. A total of 282 serious cases have required intensive care treatment in hospital this year - up from 266 last winter.
"The current influenza activity in Hong Kong is very high and may further increase in the coming weeks," the Hospital Authority said in an internal report released on Friday.
The weather in the coming Lunar New Year holiday week is likely to exacerbate the problem. Chinese University microbiologist Professor Paul Chan Kay-sheung said earlier that the virus was more active in cold, wet conditions. Temperatures are expected to range between 15 and 21 degrees Celsius next week, with humidity at 70 to 100 per cent, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
Chan also said that a warm and dry spring - with temperatures ranging between 22 and 27 degrees Celsius and humidity below 70 per cent - would help stop the spread of the influenza virus.
"This winter, the severity as reflected by the weekly number of severe influenza cases recorded was higher than the winter seasons in the past," the authority said in the report, obtained by the Post. It noted a continuous, sharp rise over seven weeks in influenza A, or H3, cases diagnosed by the centre. Some 33.4 per cent of flu cases tested positive for H3, compared to just 1 per cent for influenza B, or H1.
The same trend has been seen across the northern hemisphere, where H3N2, a subtype of the H3 virus, is the predominating strain. Taiwan is said to be still at the peak level of the winter surge in flu cases, but the mainland, Japan, Europe and North America have all passed the peak level.
Some 20 to 58 private medical clinics will stay open over the Lunar New Year holiday this week, according to a list released by the Medical Association. Medical chains are expected to charge an extra 20 to 50 per cent for treatment over the holiday.
Chan earlier warned that the dominant strain of H3N2 was more infectious than usual and could push the year's death toll to one of the highest in 15 years.
