The flu hospitalization rate in Canada has nearly doubled compared to the previous week of available data, and the number of infections is now up almost 30 per cent, according to the latest statistics from Health Canada.
In the week ending Dec. 13, 11,646 new cases of influenza were detected in Canada, meaning 27.7 per cent of all tests conducted in the country came back positive.
This is a 71% increase compared to the previous week, when there were 6,799 new cases and a positivity rate of 20.2%.
More Canadians are being hospitalized with influenza, with the number of hospitalizations at 6.2 per 100,000 people, up from 3.6 the previous week.
The number of outbreaks reported around Canada jumped from 91 in the first week of December to 186 in the week ending Dec. 13, according to the data.
This week, 44 areas in 11 states and territories reported active influenza activity.
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“All indicators of influenza activity are high and increasing. All regions across the country are reporting increased influenza activity,” Health Canada said on its website.
Eleven regions in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec reported “widespread” influenza activity.
The youngest and oldest Canadians are being hit hardest. The highest weekly hospitalization rates were in adults 65 years and older and children 4 years and younger.
According to the data, 44% of newly detected cases were among people aged 19 and under.
The predominant strains observed in Canada and the United States are influenza A(H3N2) strains, including the subvariant A(H3N2) subclade K, the World Health Organization said.
Three children between the ages of five and nine have died in Ottawa from complications related to influenza A, and city health officials are urging everyone over six months of age to get vaccinated.
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In November, eight times more children tested positive for the flu at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario than in the same month last year, and twice as many children required hospitalization for the flu.
“The flu is more than just a cold,” the hospital, colloquially known as CHEO, said in a statement.
“Children under 5 years of age are at higher risk of severe illness from influenza because their airways are narrow and their immune systems are still developing. Even healthy children can become seriously ill, and influenza spreads rapidly in schools and childcare settings.”
In Alberta, hospital emergency rooms are being flooded with flu patients as the number of cases in the province increases by 70 per cent in one week.
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