Hongkongers Risk Double Whammy Of Flu And Covid: CHP

Health officials on Friday warned that some people might catch flu and Covid-19 at the same time as winter approaches.

The Centre for Health Protection said people could develop more serious complications if they are infected with both viruses simultaneously.

Dr Albert Au from the centre said the upcoming winter flu season could be bad, appealing to the public to get vaccinated against both flu and Covid.

"There's scientific evidence showing that if a person is co-infected with both Covid and influenza, there will be increased risk in death and hospitalisation requiring ventilation support," he said.

Dr Thomas Tsang, honorary consultant of the Health Department, pointed out that a severe flu season would cause between 300 and 400 deaths in the past, warning that the situation will be worse if coupled with a Covid-19 outbreak.

"We have never been hit by surges of both flu and Covid-19 at the same time, but it may happen this year. You can imagine it will bring significant pressure to our hospitals," he said.

Hong Kong reported 4,369 new Covid-19 infections on Friday, including 386 imported cases.

Au noted that the number of local infections and hospitalisations had plateaued in recent days, with no significant further drop in cases.

"The general population has waning immunity. Due to their previous infection, they have some immunity against the Omicron virus," he said.

"However, as time goes by their immunity acquired from previous infection has been decreasing... so the susceptible population will increase. That may lead to a significant number of cases remaining in the community."

He said the number of imported cases has significantly increased recently, but existing measures have been effective in preventing these infections from spreading in the community.

Meanwhile, he noted that a new Covid variant, BA.2.75, has caused a jump in the daily Covid caseload in Singapore recently.

He said officials are closely monitoring the situation as a similar rebound could happen in Hong Kong as well.

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