Riga, Dec 3 (LETA) - The influenza incidence in Latvia continues to increase rapidly, and is now close to the epidemic threshold, according to data from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).

The proportion of influenza-positive samples has now reached 9.1 percent, which is very close to the epidemic threshold of 10 percent.

Last week, 22 percent of patients with respiratory tract infections were referred to GPs. This is an increase of five percentage points compared to the previous week. The average incidence was 125.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, about twice as high as in the previous week.

The highest influenza incidence was recorded in children aged 5-14 years, but influenza incidence increased in all age groups.

The highest flu incidence was recorded in Jelgava. Influenza cases were also recorded in Riga, Jurmala, Rezekne, Daugavpils, Gulbene, Jekabpils and Valmiera.

After the Covid-19 spike in late summer and early autumn, the incidence in Latvia has decreased, but the proportion of positive tests has remained around 5 percent over the last three weeks. During the week, 544 tests were carried out to confirm Covid-19, of which 26 or 4.8 percent were positive for SARS-CoV-2.

31 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospitals last week, 23 of whom had Covid-19 as their primary diagnosis. One death was recorded in a patient with confirmed Covid-19 infection.

This autumn, the influenza season has started earlier than usual, as evidenced by outpatient, inpatient and laboratory monitoring at the same time, according to the CDC.

The flu season has also started unusually early in other parts of Europe this year, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.