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The peak winter flu season is expected to emerge in the city next week, according to health officials warning as there is an upward trend in COVID-19 infections, SCMP reported.
The general public is urged on Thursday especially those at high risk to get flu and coronavirus vaccinations to avoid serious conditions.
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s communicable disease branch, said during a press conference “Based on the latest surveillance data, we soon, probably next week, may enter the flu surge period".
Dr Chuang said the prediction was deduced from two key indicators. In the first place was the patients' rate of admission in the hospitals with a principal flu diagnosis, which is over the threshold indicating the beginning of a peak season. Secondly, the percentage of respiratory specimens handled by public laboratories was also approaching the threshold.
“If both [indicators] are above the threshold, it means we have entered the flu surge period,” Chuang said.
Currently, influenza A subtype H3 is the most prevalent type of flu virus in the city, taking up about 80 per cent of infections. It is followed by influenza B and flu A subtype H1.
Chuang said that serious flu cases had also been slightly increasing, with 23 registered last week, up from 10 in the week before.
Health authorities noted the city was also recording more Covid-19 infections.
“The overall active level of COVID-19 also significantly increased,” Chuang said, stressing the viral load in sewage samples and the number of infection cases had risen.
Officials expected JN. 1, which the World Health Organization (WHO) listed as a “variant of interest”, could replace XBB to become the dominant COVID-19 strain in the city.
“This variant has a growth advantage over other existing variants,” Chuang said, adding a significant increase in the proportion of this strain out of all coronavirus infections overseas had been recorded within a short period.
She said a similar phenomenon had also been observed in Hong Kong, adding that 60 per cent of patients’ specimens and 26 per cent of sewage samples had the emerging variant.
“The WHO said no evidence showing JN.1 could bring extra public health risks globally, compared with other circulating strains such as XBB,” she said, noting that the vaccine targeting XBB could also offer cross-protection against JN.1.
The city’s government has procured 200,000 doses of the XBB vaccine, with priority vaccination given to the high-risk groups.
Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, head of the centre’s emergency response and programme management branch, said that about 20,000 doses had been injected since mid-December when the vaccine was made available.
衛生官員預計，由於感染病例呈上升趨勢，預計下週香港將出現冬季流感高峰季節
據《南華早報》報道，衛生官員警告說，由於 COVID-19 感染呈上升趨勢，預計下週該市將出現冬季流感高峰期。
週四敦促民眾，尤其是高風險族群接種流感和冠狀病毒疫苗，以避免嚴重情況。
衛生防護中心傳染病處主任莊淑君醫生在記者會上表示，「根據最新的監測數據，我們很快，可能下週，可能會進入流感高峰期」。
莊博士表示，這項預測是根據兩個關鍵指標得出的。 首先是主要流感診斷的患者入院率，該比率已超過顯示流感高峰季節開始的閾值。 其次，公共實驗室處理的呼吸道標本的比例也接近閾值。
「如果這兩項[指標]都高於閾值，則意味著我們已經進入流感高峰期，」莊說。
目前，甲型H3型流感是該市最受歡迎的流感病毒類型，約佔感染病例的80%。 其次是B型流感和甲型流感 H1 亞型。
莊說，嚴重流感病例也略有增加，上週登記的病例為 23 例，高於前一周的 10 例。
衛生當局指出，該市還記錄了更多 Covid-19 感染的病例。
莊說：「COVID-19的整體活躍水準也顯著增加。」他強調污水樣本中的病毒量和感染病例數有所增加。
官員預計 JN。 世界衛生組織 (WHO) 將 1 號病毒列為“感興趣的變種”，它可能會取代 XBB 成為該市的主要 COVID-19 病毒株。
莊說：「該變種比其他現有變種具有增長優勢。」他補充說，該變種在海外所有冠狀病毒感染中的比例在短時間內大幅增加。
她說，香港也觀察到了類似的現象，並補充說，60%的患者樣本和26%的污水樣本都含有新出現的變種。
她說：「世界衛生組織表示，沒有證據表明與XBB 等其他流行病毒株 相比，JN.1 可能會在全球範圍內帶來額外的公共衛生風險。」她指出，針對XBB 的疫苗還可以提供針對JN.1 的交叉保護。
該市政府已採購20萬劑XBB疫苗，優先接種給高危險群。
該中心緊急應變及專案管理部門主管區嘉榮博士表示，自12月中旬提供疫苗以來，已註射約2萬劑疫苗。
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