The epidemic of acute respiratory infections and influenza in southern Moravia continued even in the first week of the new year. After the Christmas holidays ended, the number of patients increased again. According to data published by the Regional Hygienic Station of the South Moravian Region, there were 32,400 sick people among the region’s 1.2 million inhabitants on Friday, compared with 30,000 last week and 40,000 at the start of the Christmas holidays. The most severe acute respiratory disease epidemic in five years is now in its fifth week.
“After the Christmas holidays, it is estimated that there will be an increase in morbidity rates in the first week of 2023, this development imitates the situation that occurred in previous seasons. Influenza activity is predominant, influenza accounts for more than twenty-five percent of all cases treated at general practitioner outpatient clinics for adults and general practitioners for children and adolescents.” said the director of the anti-epidemic department at the South Moravian hygiene station Renata Ciupek.
He added that a morbidity rate higher than the regional average of 2,700 patients per 100,000 inhabitants occurred in Hodonínsk and Znojmo, but throughout the region the morbidity rate exceeded two thousand people per 100,000 inhabitants, which is the epidemic threshold. There has been an increase in the number of patients hospitalized due to severe flu illnesses and people hospitalized due to severe illnesses.
However, there may be more sick people in the region than official statistics show, health experts’ data is based on information from general practitioners and paediatricians. However, many people seek treatment at home and do not visit a doctor.
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