Figures released by NSW Health show a huge drop in the number of flu cases and flu deaths recorded this year compared to last year.
This year the flu season ran from January 1 to October 17, with 15,022 confirmed cases of the flu compared to 101,027 for the same period in 2017.
The number of deaths reported due to influenza reduced dramatically compared to last year – 31 this year compared to 661 last year.
NSW Health’s Director of Communicable Diseases, Dr Vicky Sheppeard, said the 2018 flu season officially began in the first week of August and lasted nine weeks, peaking in the first week of September. The season is delineated by the number of swab tests taken over a period of time.
Dr Sheppeard said several factors are likely to have contributed to the milder flu season.
“In particular we should acknowledge the efforts of the community who responded early to the call to be vaccinated and in greater numbers. There was a 50 per cent increase in requests for flu vaccines across NSW,” she said.
NSW Health distributed more than 2.3 million doses of government-funded vaccine to GPs and other providers this year.
Dr Sheppeard said while flu numbers were low, Emergency Departments were busy but coped well due to a number of strategies employed to deal with the increase in demand for services over winter.
These strategies include The Winter Strategy – a joint initiative of North Coast Primary Health Network (NCPHN) and the Northern NSW Local Health District and The Seasonal Demand program, a joint program between Mid North Coast Local Health District and NCPHN.