14-03-2023

Flu Is Not Going Away From Lithuania

The National Public Health Centre under the Ministry of Health (NPHC) informs that the total incidence rate of influenza, acute respiratory infections (ARI) and COVID-19 (coronavirus infection) in week 10 of this year (6-12 March) continued to go up. The incidence reached epidemic level in one Municipality - Kazlų Rūda (with 1519.81 cases/100 thousand inhabitants). Until now, for more than two months, the epidemic level, i.e. 1500 cases / 100 thousand inhabitants, has not been reached in any of Municipalities. 

The total incidence rate last week reached 909.1 cases/100 thousand inhabitants, compared to 801.5 cases / 100 thousand inhabitants in the previous week (27 February – 5 March). The lowest incidence rate was reported in Telšiai County, whereas the highest in Kaunas County. The incidence reached its highest rates in Šiauliai (with 1461.46 cases/100 thousand population); Visaginas (with1293.74 cases/100 thousand population); in Marijampolės Municipality (with 1256.24 cases/100 thousand population). 

If compared with the previous week, last week fewer cases of COVID-19 but more cases of influenza and ARI were registered in the country.

Over the last week, 65 people were hospitalized due to flu, most of whom (61) were children aged 0-17. In the previous week, 54 people were hospitalized, of whom 47 were minors. 

Data on incidence of influenza, ARI and COVID-19 in Counties

According to the data from the National Public Health Laboratory, in week 9 of this year, a total of  47 specimens were taken from patients with symptoms of ARI, most of which ( 18 samples) were positive for influenza type B virus, 2 for influenza type A, and 1 for respiratory syncytial virus. 

Seasonal incidence of influenza and acute respiratory infections in Lithuania since 2017

According to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), for week 9/2023 in Europe,  7,437 of 60,298 specimens tested positive for influenza virus; 57% were type A and 43% were type B. 

European weekly data on influenza virus detections by type, season 2022/2023

During the flu season 2022-2023, more than 202 thousand doses of influenza vaccine were distributed among the country's treatment facilities for vaccinating individuals at risk. According to the data obtained by NPHC, a total of 190,394 persons belonging to risk groups were vaccinated this season (in September-February) and 94.2% of vaccine doses were used. 67.5 % of the vaccinated population were people aged 65 and older, almost 22 % were persons suffering from chronic diseases, 7.9 % were employees of health care institutions, 2.1 % were persons living in social care and nursing institutions, and 0.5 % were pregnant women.