After peaking in late November the incidence of lab-confirmed flu cases was way down over Christmas week.

The province’s latest influenza surveillance report for the week ending December 30 shows there were 78 lab-confirmed cases of influenza, 19 hospitalizations, two ICU admissions and one death.

As of the end of 2022, there had been 844 lab-confirmed cases of the flu in eleven confirmed outbreaks, including 203 hospitalizations, 27 ICU admissions and 17 deaths. All reported cases to date have been influenza A.

More than half—58 per cent—of all the cases reported were in people young than 45.

While influenza numbers spiked early and appear to be on the decline, emergency room visits for influenza-like illnesses remained relatively high through to New Year’s Eve. The vast majority of positively-identified respiratory illnesses for 2022 involved entero or rhinovirus, followed by human metapneumovirus and RSV.