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B.C. in the throes of late-season ‘wave of the flu’: BC Centre for Disease Control

This 2011 image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows an H3N2 influenza virus.
This 2011 image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows an H3N2 influenza virus. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) says the province is in the throes of a late-season wave of the flu.

The agency says the majority of the cases involve the influenza A strain, while occurrences of influenza B remain low overall.

The data, which comes from the BCCDC’s weekly flu surveillance reporting, found a 50 per cent jump in flu cases in the most recent three weeks tracked.

Since October, the agency says the vast majority of flu cases have been influenza A. About 76 per cent of them have been the H1N1 strain, but the BCCDC says in the last week 75 per cent of the cases have been of the H3N2 strain.

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It noted five lab-confirmed outbreaks of influenza A in long-term care facilities in the most recent weeks and added that it is too soon to say if the most recent wave has peaked.

The 2018-2019 flu season peaked around the New Year and had seen a steep decline in cases up to the beginning of March.

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