NOS News•
The annual flu wave has started four weeks earlier than normal in Europe, says the World Health Organization WHO. This has to do with a new variant, says regional director Hans Kluge. As a result, there are more infections. There is no evidence that it makes people sicker.
In at least 27 of the 38 countries in the European region, many people are now falling ill with flu. 90 percent of them involve the new variant. “This shows that even a small change in the virus can cause enormous pressure on the healthcare system,” says Kluge. “That’s because people haven’t built up immunity against it.”
The first figures from the United Kingdom show that vaccination also prevents patients from becoming seriously ill with this new virus.
The Netherlands
In the Netherlands, flu reports from general practitioners are kept up to date with Nivel. Last week, the Netherlands had 40 patients with flu-like complaints per 100,000 inhabitants, especially in the youngest age group, from zero to 14 years. A year ago this was 25 patients per 100,000 inhabitants. The peak of the flu wave was in week 5 of this year.
There is only a flu epidemic if at least 53 out of 100,000 people report to their GP with flu symptoms for two weeks in a row.
United Kingdom
The flu is already making many people sick in the UK. At the beginning of this week, Minister of Health Streeting called on healthcare unions not to go on strike, because the pressure on hospitals is the highest since the corona pandemic.
At the beginning of this week, 95 percent of hospital beds in the UK were occupied and more and more staff were reporting sick.
