Nearly Half of Elderly Influenza Cases in Hong Kong Ended in Mortality: Doctor

Dr. Cheung Shuk-kwan, director of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said on Jan. 4, 2024, that Hong Kong will enter its peak flu season as early as next week. Adrian Yu/The Epoch Times

Dr. Cheung Shuk-kwan, director of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection, said on Jan. 4,  that among the confirmed influenza cases last week, half of them did not survive. Hong Kong is expected to enter its peak flu season as early as next week, and the activity of the COVID-19 pandemic has also increased significantly in recent days.

At the joint press conference by the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority, Dr. Cheung said that the rate of positive influenza virus tests and the influenza admission rate have continued to increase in the past few weeks. The influenza admission rate in public hospitals was 0.48, higher than the baseline level of 0.25; the latest laboratory monitoring showed a positive rate of 8.49, close to the baseline level of 9.21. Among them, influenza A virus H3 accounts for 79 percent, influenza B virus accounts for 13 percent, and the remaining 8 percent belongs to H1.

She called on the public to get vaccinated as soon as possible. At the same time, those who are feeling sick or need to meet sick people, enter nursing homes and hospitals, and go into crowded places, as well as the other high-risk groups, should put on face masks when going to public places.

In addition, there were 23 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza in adults last week, of which ten were fatal.

Recently, there have been two serious COVID-19 cases involving children, including a 4-year-old boy who traveled to Australia during the incubation period, and a 20-month-old boy who had no travel record during the incubation period. Both are now in stable condition after treatment.

Dr. Cheung pointed out that there has been an increase in virus samples from sewage and human infection cases recently. It is believed that the JN.1 virus strain, which is listed as a mutant strain on the WHO watch list, will gradually become prominent in the local area and replace the XBB virus strain to become mainstream. JN.1 has a higher transmission tendency, but there is no proof yet that it is more dreadful than other mutant strains.

As for other respiratory tract infections, about 23 percent of children are hospitalized for rhinovirus and enterovirus, and 21.9 percent for adenovirus, showing a downward trend, with parainfluenza accounting for 10 percent of them. Moreover, Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections have shown a downward trend in recent weeks after a slight increase in September 2023.

Pressure from Rising Internal Medicine Bed Occupancy Rate

Dr. Larry Lee Lap-yip, Chief Administrative Manager (Network Operations) of the Hospital Authority (HA), said that the occupancy rate of hospital beds in the internal medicine emergency ward increased from 96 percent in December 2023 to 116 percent on Jan. 3. The occupancy rate of beds in the pediatric ward for emergency cases also increased from 75 percent to 92 percent over the same period. These figures are worrying, and he admitted that the HA is under certain pressure (to cope with it).

If hospitalization rates continue to go up, manpower resources, hospital beds, and influenza virus testing capacity will need to be increased, and non-emergency services will be adjusted according to the established mechanism to free up manpower and hospital beds. As for the infection control center at North Lantau Hospital, it is currently put on standby.

Influenza Vaccination Rate Increased by 20 percent from Same Period Last Year

Dr. Albert Au Ka-wing, Director of the Emergency Response and Project Management Branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said that the seasonal influenza vaccine program has been launched for about three months. And as of January 1, a total of 1.7 million doses have been administered this season, 21 percent more than the same period last year.

Among the high-risk groups, the over 65 years old have received about 770,000 doses, an increase of 15 percent from the same period last year, with a group coverage of 46.7 percent. For the institutions, about 4,800 doses have been administered so far, an increase of 8.8 percent compared with the same period last year, and the group coverage is 80.1 percent. For children aged 6 to 18, about 510,000 doses have been administered so far, an increase of 39 percent compared with the same period last year, with a group coverage of about 51.3 percent.

Dr. Au said that although vaccination coverage among various groups has increased, there is still half of the elderly over 65, as well as children who have not been vaccinated, so there is still room for improvement. Among the groups from 6 months to under two and those from 12 to under 18, the number of doses administered increased by 130 percent and 170 percent, respectively, compared with last year. However, the coverage of these groups was only 16.7 percent and 39.3 percent, which is far from satisfactory. He called on the public to turn up and be injected with the flu vaccine as soon as possible.