Overview
- Italy logged more than 800,000 influenza cases in a week, with emergency departments reporting long waits and patients treated on stretchers.
- Germany’s RKI estimates about five million people per week with new acute respiratory illness, with over 40% attributed to influenza around the turn of the year.
- RKI analyses show the H3N2 Subclade K now dominates recent samples in Germany as multiple states report influenza-linked deaths, including six this year in Saxony and two in Thuringia.
- Local health services are being disrupted by staff illness, including a GP practice in Bönen that temporarily closed after most clinicians fell ill with flu.
- ECDC estimates vaccine effectiveness against H3N2 at roughly 52% to 57%, and STIKO, RKI and WHO urge vaccination for risk groups while noting overall activity remains within seasonal norms.