Flu death toll for winter running at seven, says HSE

Seven people have died from the flu so far this winter season, new figures confirm.

The latest tally is included in a weekly monitoring report from the HSE's Health Protection Surveillance Centre, which had previously indicated one death from flu had been reported to it up to December 19th.

The highest-ever level of respiratory admissions to hospitals was recorded in the last week of 2016, and influenza-related calls to GP out-of-hours services were at the highest level since the 2010/2011 season.

There have been 270 influenza-related hospitalisations so far in the 2016/2017 season, leading to 15 admissions to critical care units.

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People aged over 65 have been worst-affected by the flu outbreak and one infant has so far been admitted to critical care after contracting the A(H3) strain of the illness, the most prevalent this season.

While still well above the normal baseline threshold of 18.3 influenza-like illness cases per 100,000 population, the last-recorded level of 50.9 per 100,000 represents a decrease from a figure of 60.8 during the second-last week of 2016.

Flu outbreaks are particularly common in Dublin, Kildare and across southern counties, while western counties continue to have the lowest reported levels of outbreaks.