Serious flu cases started to wane last week, data show

There has been a drop in the number of people admitted to hospital with flu, according to a weekly report issued Friday by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO), which may signal that this flu season, a particularly bad one, is starting to wind down.

KEELPNO data showed that 16 flu patients were placed in intensive care in the week up to last Sunday, as opposed to 30 the week before that.

In the period from February 25 to March 3, 4.5 percent of all patients who visited a doctor had flu-like symptoms, against 9 percent the week before that, KEELPNO added.

Despite this drop, however, health experts are still encouraging the public to get vaccinated against the disease and warn that the flu season in Greece usually runs well into March and does not start abating until April.

The death toll from the illness since October, when the flu season started, reached 111 last Sunday.