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Hong Kong’s longest flu season comes to an end after more than 6 months

  • Centre for Health Protection confirms that flu season, which started in mid-January, has reached its end, but warned Covid-19 infections had increased

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A young girl gets a nasal spray flu vaccine instead of a jab earlier this year. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
Hong Kong’s longest influenza season has come to an end after 28 weeks, health authorities have said.
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The Department of Health’s Centre for Health Protection confirmed on Thursday that the flu season, which started in mid-January, had finished, but appealed to the public to maintain a high standard of hygiene.

“The current influenza season lasted for 28 weeks, which is not common in Hong Kong,” a department spokesman said.

“The Centre for Health Protection believes that this prolonged influenza season can be attributed to a change in the circulating influenza virus strains.”

The city’s predominant virus at the start of the season was flu A subtype H3, but that was later changed to subtype H1 in April.

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Hong Kong’s winter flu seasons in the past normally lasted from eight to 12 weeks.

The centre said flu levels peaked for a month from around late April, then dropped gradually.

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