The number of people who have been sick with the flu this season is much higher than normal, a Toronto Public Health (TPH) report shows.
Between Sept. 1 and Dec. 29, 2012, the agency recorded 449 confirmed cases of the flu, more than double the average of 188 cases over the last decade.
Also, 199 of this season’s cases happened in just seven days — the week of Dec. 23-29.
TPH says 62 people were admitted to hospital for the flu and no one has died.
“Emergency departments across the city, including those at Toronto General Hospital and Toronto Western Hospital, are seeing an increase in people coming to the department with flu-like symptoms,” University Health Network spokeswoman Gillian Howard told CityNews.ca.
Howard said it’s difficult for the hospitals to say for sure if the cases were actually influenza because only a lab test can confirm that diagnosis.
While 14 per cent of those who got the flu this season had been vaccinated, officials continue to urge people to get their flu shot.
Across the country, there were more than 3,000 confirmed cases of influenza as of Dec. 15, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The flu usually strikes between November and April and peaks near the end of January.
People with the flu are infectious for a full day before they show symptoms.
Click here for a list of flu shot clinics in Toronto.
— With files from 680News
