The Centre for Health Protection has called for heightened public vigilance as Hong Kong's seasonal influenza activity has increased in the past two weeks.
The centre said today the percentage of positive respiratory specimens it received rose from 3.93% in the week ending December 16 to 6.02% and 9.32% in the following two weeks.
During the same period, the overall admission rate with principal diagnosis of influenza in public hospitals increased from 0.09 per 10,000 population to 0.15 and 0.23.
Winter influenza season has already started in the US, Canada, the UK, Japan, and southern and northern China.
In Guangdong the percentage of positive respiratory specimens in the week ending December 24 reached 20.75% compared with 14.11% in the previous week.
Noting that health screening measures are being conducted at boundary control points, the centre said the public should receive an influenza vaccination soon and maintain good hygiene to safeguard against influenza and other respiratory illnesses.
