Watch for crowds during the year-end and New Year holiday season
The surge of flu patients continues. Experts say that the number of patients at the end of the year is higher than usual, and that the spread of the epidemic is likely to occur when many people move home during the New Year holidays. Is calling.
According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, there were 105,221 influenza patients who visited about 5,000 medical institutions nationwide in the week to 22 this month, and the estimated number of nationwide patients was about 760,000. That's 2,000, up about 230,000 from the previous week.
The number of patients per medical institution is 21.22 patients nationwide, the largest by prefecture being 41.46 in Yamaguchi, followed by 31.80 in Miyagi, 29.57 in Saitama, 28.91 in Oita, and 28.91 in Aichi. 27.55 people.
In most cases, the number of flu cases surges at the beginning of the year to peak after late January. This season, the number of cases surges several weeks earlier, and is higher than usual at the end of the year.
At the end of the year and New Year, many people go home to go home or visit a shrine, and there is concern about the spread of the epidemic, saying that Nobuhiko Okabe, director of the Kawasaki Institute of Health and Safety, who is familiar with infectious diseases, said, People and pregnant women should be as crowded as possible. "
In addition, influenza is often transmitted by coughing or sneezing from people within a distance of about 2 meters. It is important to wash your hands and sleep well on a daily basis, and to eat a well-balanced diet and live a healthy life. "