Six people died from flu since start of season
Six people have died from flu since the start of the flu season.
New HSE figures show 150 patients have been hospitalised within the past week, with 27 needing treatment in intensive care units.
This season’s flu is predominantly affecting people aged between 15 and 64, but health chiefs say more children will get the flu now they’ve returned to school.
The start of February is expected to be the peak for cases of influenza.
Dr. Kevin Kelleher, the HSE’s Assistant National Director for Public Health, says many more people die from cases indirectly linked to flu.
"What also happens is that flu causes other types of deaths, not directly due to flu but things like pneumonia or heart disease or strokes, things of that nature," he said.
"We can see that after about two or three months and that means there are probably another three or four hundred deaths in all related to the flu as a consequence each year."
