Influenza epidemic to hit late January, peak over Lunar New Year: CDC

Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) Taiwan is expected to see a rise in influenza cases in the latter half of this month, with infections likely to peak around the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced Tuesday.

Over the past seven days ending Monday, 11 severe influenza cases were reported, with five fatalities, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said at a routine news briefing.

In terms of community spread, a total of 82,161 people sought medical treatment for influenza-like illness from the week of Dec. 28 last year to Jan. 3, remaining at about the same level as the previous week, according to CDC surveillance data.

The CDC projected that Taiwan will again enter an influenza epidemic period in the latter half of this month, following a previous period from late September to late November this winter, Lee said.

She was referring to a status declared when the proportion of outpatient and emergency department visits for influenza-like illness exceeds the 11.0 percent of all outpatient visits epidemic threshold for two consecutive weeks.

Lee said that the influenza epidemic is likely to peak around the nine-day Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Feb. 14.

CDC laboratory surveillance data showed that A/H3N2 is the dominant influenza strain circulating in the community, followed by influenza B and A/H1N1, Lee said.

As of Monday, over 6.62 million residents had received influenza vaccinations under a government-funded program, with approximately 206,000 doses remaining, she added.