Italy faces ‘worst flu season’ in years

Latest data from Italy’s National Institute of Health shows that Italy is in the midst of its “worst flu season in years,” with 7.8 million Italians showing flu symptoms since October 2023.

Flu infections peaked in the first week of the year and have declined since then. But current infection levels are higher than in previous years, and the number of cases this winter is expected to exceed the 14 million recorded in the winter of 2022-23.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases has declined this month. The weekly report released by the Ministry of Health on Friday showed that there were 9,675 new infections in the week from January 11 to 17, less than half of the previous week.

Italy, on the other hand, recently announced the administration of more than 2 million vaccines against the Ómicron XBB subvariant.

Health officials have warned that while seasonal flu and coronavirus infection levels appear to have peaked, there is still a risk of new variants emerging, so they are encouraging people, especially the elderly and vulnerable, to exercise caution.

This month, the Ministry of Health extended the mandatory use of masks in hospitals and nursing homes until at least June 30.

Recently, influenza and COVID-19 have spread to varying degrees in some European countries.

In Latvia, influenza continued to spread rapidly last week, with the number of cases doubling from the previous week, while coronavirus cases were on a downward trend, the Latvian Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.

Upper respiratory tract infection monitors show that 111 Latvians were infected with influenza last week, almost double the number the previous week. During the same period, COVID-19 cases dropped from 138 to 122.