The Centre for Health Protection today announced that local seasonal influenza activity has increased in the past week indicating that Hong Kong has entered the 2018-19 winter influenza season.

Respiratory specimens received by the centre showed the percentage that tested positive for seasonal influenza viruses steadily increased since mid-November and rose to 14 % last week.

The overall admission rate with principal diagnosis of influenza in public hospitals has also increased to 0.43 per 10,000 people last week.

Local seasonal influenza activity is expected to rise in the coming weeks and remain at a high level for some time.

The centre urged the public, particularly children, the elderly and chronic disease patients to get influenza vaccinations soon.

Its Controller Dr Wong Ka-hing said: “We hope that those who have not yet received the vaccination, they can come forward to receive the vaccination as soon as possible because it takes two weeks to develop the antibodies.”