Doctor Octavian Jurma warns that the new flu wave continues to rise, with 9,039 new cases reported last week. However, the pace of growth has slowed, suggesting that the top of the wave has been reached or will be surpassed this week.
The only reserve comes from the development of respiratory infections, which increased by 7.5% last week, reaching 112,896 cases, a new record.
“This indicator usually precedes the evolution of the number of reported flu cases by 1-2 weeks, and I expect flu cases to increase slightly or remain flat this week, but I don’t think they will cross the 10,000 weekly mark again.” explained doctor Octavian Jurma.
The weekly death toll fell to 11, after a high of 20 two weeks ago, confirming that the actual number of cases, not just reports, has fallen.
“This means that we have, for the first time in many years, an influenza epidemic with two successive waves, the final appearance of which resembles the cumulative waves of the previous two seasons. As can be seen from the attached graph, the first wave of this season is similar to last season, and the second wave has a similar profile to that of 2023, which means that this flu season will have a total number of cases close to the cumulative number of cases of the two previous flu seasons”claims Jurma.
The doctor warns that a historical record of cases, even with a proportional number of deaths, represents a serious signal for the authorities and the population, especially in the context of COVID-19, which still has a mortality 10 times higher than the flu in Romania.
“The health authorities must not only make the vaccine available (there is still no vaccine against COVID-19 in Romania), but also organize information and vaccination campaigns that precede the waves of flu and COVID”Jurma specified.
Even though the number of flu vaccinations exceeded 1,300,000, being significantly higher than the historical minimum recorded during the time of former minister Alexandru Rafila, the doctor draws attention that “we are still far from the peak of 3 million flu vaccinations in 2020″.
According to him, last week’s map shows that most of the cases contributing to this new epidemic wave come from the counties less affected last year, and the decrease in the number of cases from the intensively affected areas last year confirms that we are not witnessing a uniform increase at the national level.
“It is therefore unlikely that the flu will reach the intensity of December, even if it may increase moderately for another week or two. Although we still need to be cautious in February, it is unlikely that the flu epidemic will not enter the downward phase by the end of this month.”concludes Jurma.
The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) announces that, in the week of January 26 – February 1, 11 deaths caused by the influenza virus were confirmed, bringing the total number of deaths for the 2025-2026 flu season to 68.
