Doctors in the Czech Republic are currently preoccupied with coronavirus and respiratory infections. The State Institute of Health (SZU) has stated that the country is on the verge of an epidemic. Compared to last week, the morbidity rate has increased by more than 20 percent. Influenza, in particular, is on the rise.
The morbidity rate has reached 1,754 persons per 100,000 inhabitants, an increase of 20.4 percent compared to last week.
Regarding age groups, the highest number of sick people is among young children of preschool age—5560 per 100 thousand people.
“We continue to register increases in morbidity in all regions and in all age groups, which corresponds to the increasing numbers of positive detections of influenza viruses and other respiratory agents in the population. Morbidity is also increasing significantly in so-called influenza diseases, typical at the beginning of an influenza epidemic,” said Jan Kynčl, head of the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Department at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
According to him, the overall morbidity rate for influenza diseases has increased by 112 percent compared to last week. The highest increase is among the elderly over 65, at 250 percent.
In real terms, however, the flu is recorded most often in the group of young children, where doctors recorded 155 cases per 100,000 people. In total, there are 53 confirmed cases of influenza for every 100,000 people in the country.
There is still time to get the flu vaccine
“The situation is not easy to assess, as several agents of respiratory diseases are circulating in the population at a higher rate, especially influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2, and the RS virus. It can be expected that the number of flu patients will continue to increase in the next week,” Kynčl added.
It is still possible to be vaccinated against influenza. However, it should be taken into account that the vaccine’s protective effect will not be seen until about two weeks. However, it is necessary to be healthy when receiving the vaccine.
The predominant influenza virus is type A, which the vaccines target.