Flu season in Canada is officially over, according to the first national FluWatch report of 2023, which was released Friday.
FluWatch is the Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) national influenza surveillance system. It monitors the spread of influenza and influenza-like illnesses and publishes reports every Friday during the active flu season.
As flu continues to circulate, the latest report from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says the rate of spread has “declined sharply from the peak in week 47 (late November) and is now below expected pre-pandemic levels.”
The agency recorded a total of 1,749 laboratory detections – including 1,721 influenza A and 28 influenza B for the week of January 1 to 7. In comparison, PHAC reported 8,242 laboratory detections during the height of flu season during the week of November 20 through November 26. Of these, 8,226 were influenza A and 16 were influenza B.
In fact, PHAC reports that medical visits for flu-like illness last week were slightly below the typical level for this time of year, accounting for 1.7 percent of visits. The number of people reporting cough and fever symptoms to FluWatch is also below the seasonal level.
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Hospitalizations have also decreased significantly. Canada reached its peak number of pediatric flu hospitalizations during the week of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, when 247 hospitalizations were reported. In its latest FluWatch report, PHAC says there were 30 hospitalizations during the week of January 1-7.
The latest flu season began on August 28 and was especially challenging for children and the elderly. As of January 7, a total of 3,690 flu-related hospitalizations, 311 intensive care unit admissions and 218 deaths have been reported in Canada. Of them, 1,534 are children. As of January 7, 120 out of every 100,000 adults age 65 and older were hospitalized for influenza or a flu-like illness.
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