EODY: Increased positivity for Covid – The flu epidemic continues

The latest EODY report for the seven-day period April 15-21 records a slight increase in the percentage of samples that are positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the corresponding percentage for influenza remains above 10%, the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) threshold for declaring an epidemic.

In the period covered by the report, there were 6 elderly deaths from Covid-19 and 82 hospital admissions, close to the average for the past four weeks but far fewer than the 813 admissions in the corresponding period in 2023.

The report also records one death from the flu, bringing the total to 68 since the start of the seasonal epidemic.

An increase in the viral load of the coronavirus was recorded in two cities, according to the table below.

Summary of the findings of the report:

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 showed a slight increase compared to the previous week.

SARS-CoV2 virus – COVID-19 infection

✓ The positivity in all tested samples showed a small increase compared to the previous week.
✓ The number of new admissions was 81. The average weekly number of admissions in the previous 4 weeks was 82 and the number of admissions in the corresponding week of 2023 was 813.
✓ The number of new intubations was 2. The average weekly number of new intubations over the previous 4 weeks was 1 and the number of intubations in the corresponding week of 2023 was 17.
✓ The number of patients with COVID-19 infection who are hospitalized with intubation is 6.
✓ 6 deaths were recorded with a median age of 88.5 years (range 81-93 years). The number of deaths is the same as the average weekly number of deaths in the previous 4 weeks (n=6) and was lower than the number of deaths in the corresponding week in 2023 (n=47).
✓ The most frequent sub-variant of BA.2 remains JN.1 (>85% from week 6 onwards).
✓ Surveillance of viral load in municipal wastewater showed a drop in SARS-CoV-2 virus circulation in 4 of the 7 areas tested, an increase in 2, and a stabilization in 1.

Influenza virus

✓ Influenza positivity in the community (sentinel network) is still above 10% (ECDC seasonal threshold for the onset of epidemic activity of influenza), with no significant change from the previous week, and remaining at seasonally high levels (with prevalence of type B influenza). The positivity of
SARI samples remained at the same levels as last week and remains low.
✓ One new serious case with hospitalization in ICU was recorded, while no new death from laboratory-confirmed influenza was recorded.
✓ From week 40/2023 to week 16/2024, 141 people with laboratory-confirmed influenza were hospitalized in ICU and 68 deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza were recorded.
✓ From week 40/2023 to week 16/2024, 933 influenza strains have been standardized (derived from community Sentinel samples, from SARI surveillance samples and from hospital samples outside surveillance networks),
of which 547 (59%) were type A and 386 (41%) type B. From week 10 onwards the predominant type is B in both the community (Sentinel PHC surveillance network) and hospitals (SARI surveillance network ).
✓ In total, 529 type A strains have been subtyped in the two Influenza Reference Centers. 487 (92%) belonged to the A(H1)pdm09 subtype and 42 (8%) to the A(H3) subtype.