EODY announced the data on the cases of coronavirus and flu, for the week of February 19 – 25, 2024.​

In detail, the data of EODY

Influenza-like illness – ILI (regardless of pathogen)

The number of influenza cases per 1,000 visits showed a decrease compared to the previous week.

Severe Acute Respiratory Infection – SARI (regardless of pathogen)

The number of SARI cases per 1,000 visits remained at similar levels to the previous week.

SARS-CoV2 virus – COVID-19 infection

The positivity of all tested samples for coronavirus showed a slight decrease compared to the previous week.

Closure
The number of admissions (n=298) showed a decrease of 31% compared to the average weekly number of admissions in the previous 4 weeks (n=433) and was lower than the number of admissions in the corresponding week of 2023 (n=1,063).

The number of new intubations (n=5) showed a decrease compared to the average weekly number of new intubations over the previous 4 weeks (n=6) and was lower than the number of intubations in the corresponding week of 2023 (n=29). The number of intubated patients with COVID-19 infection is 30.

There were 18 deaths with a median age of 87 years (range 49-89 years). The number of deaths showed a decrease compared to the average weekly number of deaths in the previous 4 weeks (n=42) and was lower than the number of deaths in the corresponding week in 2023 (n=94).

The most common sub-variant of BA.2 was JN.1 (83%) followed by EG.5 (6%) (latest data available).

Viral load surveillance in municipal wastewater showed a reduction in SARS-CoV-2 virus circulation in 6 of the 7 areas tested.

Influenza virus

Influenza positivity in the community (sentinel network) remains above 10% (seasonal threshold for initiation of epidemic influenza activity according to ECDC) and showed an increase compared to the previous week. The positivity of SARI samples also showed an increase compared to the previous week.

5 new serious cases with hospitalization in ICU and 8 new deaths from laboratory confirmed influenza were recorded.

In addition, 2 severe cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza with ICU hospitalization were retrospectively reported, while one death of laboratory-confirmed influenza was retrospectively reported.

A total of 128 people with laboratory-confirmed influenza have been hospitalized in the ICU since the beginning of influenza surveillance, and 58 deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza have been recorded.

547 influenza strains (derived from community sentinel samples, from SARI surveillance samples and from hospital samples outside surveillance networks) have been typed, of which 499 (91%) were type A and 48 (9%) were type B. Overall, subtyped in the two Influenza Reference Centers 467 type A strains. 432 (92.5%) belonged to the A(H1)pdm09 subtype and 35 (7.5%) to the A(H3) subtype.

Respiratory syncytial virus – RSV

RSV positivity showed a decrease compared to the previous week, both in the community (PHC Sentinel network) and in hospitals (SARI surveillance network).