Erfurt (dpa/th) - In Thuringia, more than twice as many influenza cases have been registered in the current flu season as in the last violent flu wave in 2019/2020 combined. It has been proven that 19,362 people have fallen ill so far, as the Ministry of Health announced on Friday. Around 9,300 cases were counted throughout the 2019/2020 season. At that time, Thuringia had been hit by one of the most violent flu waves in recent years. In the corona pandemic, protective measures such as compulsory masks, school and kindergarten closures prevented major flu outbreaks.
After the highest weekly figure so far with more than 5,100 cases in the fourth week of Advent, the number of new cases in the Christmas week fell to around 3,100. That could possibly be explained by the holiday effect, said a ministry spokesman. For example, no major flu outbreaks were registered in schools or kindergartens. The Christmas holidays in Thuringia began on December 22nd. According to the ministry, it is still too early to assess whether the wave has actually peaked.
However, the officially recorded numbers only provide an incomplete overview of the actual infection process. As a rule, only diseases confirmed by laboratory diagnostics are reported. However, many doctors do without such a diagnosis because of the usually clear clinical symptoms. Accordingly, a certain number of unreported cases can be assumed.
