Hong Kong enters summer flu season as Covid infections also climb

Hong Kong health authorities have called on the public to stay vigilant as the city has entered the summer flu season, with Covid-19 cases also on the rise.Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said on Thursday that surveillance data suggested flu cases rose significantly last week, signalling the beginning of the seasonal infection period.He noted that it was difficult to predict how long the season would last, even though the most common strain in the city was the H3 subtype of influenza A, similar to last year.“So far, around 60 per cent of the infection cases are caused by influenza A subtype H3, similar to last September and December. The vaccines are effective. However, we also observe cases from subtype H1 and influenza B,” he said.“We will closely monitor the situation. Generally, the summer influenza season lasts for eight to 12 weeks. We expect that influenza activity remains at a relatively active level in August and September.”Among the respiratory specimens collected by public laboratories last week, 6.69 per cent tested positive for influenza, which was above the baseline of 4.94 per cent.