Patients with flu-like symptoms increase 45% on week

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Patients with flu-like symptoms increase 45% on week

A nurse gives a free flu shot to a baby in a Gwangju hospital on Sept. 21. [YONHAP]

A nurse gives a free flu shot to a baby in a Gwangju hospital on Sept. 21. [YONHAP]

More people are coming down with flu-like symptoms, health officials announced Sunday, raising concerns of a “twindemic” — when seasonal influenza and the coronavirus circulate simultaneously.
 
In its weekly infectious disease report, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that an average of 7.1 people out of 1,000 who visited a doctor at 200 nationwide medical institutes from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1 had flu-like symptoms, the highest since data was first compiled in 2014 and a 45 percent increase compared to the previous week.
 
In the week prior, from Sept. 18 to 24, an average of 4.9 people had flu-like symptoms. 
 
An average of three to four people out of a pool of 1,000 usually feel flu-like symptoms around this time of year, the KDCA noted.
 
Flu-like symptoms are defined as a fever of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) or above, sore throat and coughing.
 
But having flu-like symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean a patient has influenza.
 
The KDCA noted in the report that among 265 patients tested, two were found to have been infected with influenza. Many others had other viruses that caused respiratory problems.
 
The highest rates of flu-like cases were found in infants and young children from ages one through six, as well as people from 19 to 49 years old.
 
The KDCA issued a nationwide influenza warning on Sept. 16 as an increasing number of people reported flu-like symptoms. It was the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out that the KDCA issued such a warning.
 
Korea’s flu season normally lasts from December to April, but the nation managed to escape the spread of influenza over the past two years as people practiced social distancing and wore masks to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
 
Now with most Covid-related restrictions eased, doctors and health authorities warn that influenza cases might increase again at a time when the pandemic hasn’t completely ebbed.
 
A total of 17,654 people tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday, the KDCA said, bringing the weekly average to 21,615 cases. It was the lowest figure that the country has seen for a Saturday in 14 weeks.
 
There were 23,578 new cases recorded on Saturday one week ago, and 25,769 new cases on Saturday two weeks ago.
 
There were 305 people in serious condition last Saturday, 18 more than the previous day. Twenty-nine people died, three fewer than the day before.
 
The last remaining major Covid restrictions in Korea are the indoor mask mandate and the seven-day quarantine period for infected patients, but officials have been cautious about lifting either one, fearing that cases may surge.
 
In a recent interview with local broadcaster KBS, Vice Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol raised the possibility of easing the indoor mask made after April 2023. 

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]
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