Influenza Statistics

Influenza Activity Surveillance & Graph 2024

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This report provides a summary of influenza surveillance data collected from around Australia and New Zealand. Regional reporting in some areas ceases when influenza activity is low (out of season). Please note that many people do not get tested for influenza and that there may also be some delays in reporting confirmed influenza cases.

Therefore data presented here may be underestimating influenza activity.

National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS)

Update for 23 April 2024

It is important to note that data reported from the various influenza surveillance systems may not represent an accurate reflection of influenza activity. There may be some delays in the reporting systems. Also, many who become unwell with influenza-like symptoms do not present to their doctor and are not tested for influenza.

Results should be interpreted with caution.

National notification data (NNDSS):

There have been 39,823 notifications of laboratory confirmed influenza reported to the NNDSS in the year to 23 April.

Total notifications from each state and territory are as follows:

National Vaccination Coverage Rates

Influenza vaccination is recommended for all Australians aged 6 months and older. Flu vaccination reporting to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) is mandatory allowing coverage rates to be monitored.

In 2022, 38.7% of all Australian aged over 6 months have received at least one dose of influenza vaccine by 31st August 2022.

Monitoring of influenza vaccination coverage has now ended for 2023.

NCIRS continuously monitors influenza vaccination coverage data and will update the information below each week until the end of the 2024 influenza season.

Reporting of influenza vaccination coverage for the 2024 influenza season will commence shortly after the NIP rollout of influenza vaccines across Australia.

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Weekly influenza information is available in the COVID-19 weekly surveillance report.

Queensland

15 April 2024

Total influenza cases YTD (1 Jan –14 April 2024): 9987

• 73 people were in hospital with Influenza, most (59%) were aged 65 years or more.
  748 people diagnosed in the last week, 192 (26%) were aged 65 years or more.

South Australia

Update for the week ending at 20 April 2024

Count of influenza notifications in the week ending 20 April 2024: 171

Tasmania

Report for the fortnight ending 14 April 2024

Summary

• Acute respiratory illness (ARI) activity in Tasmania is currently low and stable.
• Influenza activity is currently low but increasing.

Influenza notifications for week ending 14 April : 38

Influenza rate*: 6.6

* Notification rate per 100,000 population.

Victoria

There is currently no data available for influenza surveillance in Victoria.

Western Australia

Week ending 14 April 2024

Influenza and Influenza-like Illnesses (ILI) Summary:

• The number of influenza cases notified to the Department of Health decreased by 20% to 117
  cases in the past week and remained below the seasonal threshold.
• In the year to date, the number of influenza notifications and hospitalisations were higher than the previous five-year average, while the number of reported deaths was lower. Vaccination coverage to date was highest in the ≥ 65 year age group. The majority of notifications were in those aged less than 15 years.
• The influenza PCR test positivity at PathWest decreased to 2.5% (27 detections) in the past week.

Australian Sentinel Practices Research Network (ASPREN), FluTracking and New Zealand

Update for 11th March – 24th March

ASPREN is a national syndromic surveillance program co-ordinated by the Discipline of General Practice at the University of Adelaide and The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. One of the conditions under surveillance is influenza like illness (ILI). General practitioners participating in the ASPREN program contribute data on the proportion of consultations which are ILI related.

NATIONAL SUMMARY

Influenza-like-illness levels are increasing.

9 Cases of influenza have been detected in this reporting period:

• 7 x Influenza A
• 2 x Influenza B

10% Influenza positivity during the reporting period.

25 Cases of influenza have been detected this year:

• 22 x Influenza A
• 3 x Influenza B

SYNDROMIC SURVEILLANCE REPORTING

Reports were received from 235 reporters from 8 states and territories during the reporting period. During weeks 3 and 4
reporters saw a total of 34,404 patients.

INFLUENZA-LIKE-ILLNESS (ILI)

Nationally, ILI notifications decreased during the period with 91 notifications being reported in weeks 3—4. ILI rates reported in this period were 3 cases per 1000 consultations (weighted). This was lower than the previous fortnight where rates were 5 and 4 cases per 1000 consultations in weeks 1 and 2 respectively. For the same reporting period in 2023, ILI rates were lower at 1 cases per 1000 consultations for weeks 3 and 4.

FluTracking

FluTracking is an online health surveillance system which aims to detect epidemics of influenza. It is a joint initiative of The University of Newcastle, Hunter New England Area Health Service (NSW Health) and Hunter Medical Research Institute. Participation is voluntary and involves the completion of a weekly online survey during the influenza season. Data are collected on basic demographics, symptoms of ILI and absenteeism.

Week ending 21 April 2024

(Data received up to 09:00 AM, Thursday 23 April)

Summary:

• 46,626 participants this week
• Respiratory illness levels have increased this week.

Respiratory illness activity*:

*Respiratory illness activity is defined as fever & cough for this report

1.5% this week and 1.3% last week

Respiratory illness activity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants:

3.3% this week and 0.8% last week

Respiratory illness severity:

27.4% of participants with fever and cough sought medical advice this week.

New Zealand

Week ending 18 April 2024

Summary

Indicators of influenza-like illness in the community remain low. The rate of ILI related Healthline calls has fluctuated over the past weeks and is currently below the rates seen at the same time in 2023.

The percentage of FluTracking participants with fever and cough has fluctuated slightly over the past two weeks and is lower than this time in 2022 and 2023 (see the Community ILI tab for further detail).

The hospitalisation rate for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in the Auckland region has declined in the week ending 14th April following an increasing trend and having exceeded the baseline seasonal threshold in the week ending 24 March. The rate continues to remain above the threshold in the low activity range. Recent SARI activity has been predominantly associated with respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and rhinovirus detections in children under 5 years of age. The influenza-positive SARI hospitalisation rate is slightly below the baseline seasonal level and lower than the same time in 2023. Influenza A viruses have predominated, in low numbers, to date. The SARS-CoV-2-positive SARI hospitalisation rate is also lower than the same time in 2022 and 2023 (see the Hospitalisations tab for more details). This does not necessarily reflect the trend in all COVID-19 related hospital admissions monitored by Health New Zealand, as different definitions are used: https://tewhatuora.shinyapps.io/covid19/ .

Note that the results presented are based on data available as at 18 April 2024. These may be updated as more data becomes available, so should be regarded as provisional at this stage. HealthStat analyses have been removed from the dashboard due to a data quality issue.