Romania is facing the most severe flu season in the last decade, with double the number of cases compared to recent seasons and a higher death toll than in similar periods in previous years, warns doctor Octavian Jurma.
“So far, the 2025–2026 flu season is the most severe flu season in 10 years”writes Octavian Jurma, who points out that the number of registered cases is double compared to the same period in the last three seasons.
According to the doctor, the evolution of the flu returned to growth last week, with 8,499 new cases, compared to 6,287 in the previous week, which means “a 35% increase in the number of cases”. This development is correlated with the general increase in respiratory infections, which increased by about 25% in the first weeks of the year.
“Given that the number of respiratory infections reported last week is still rising and has already surpassed the December high, it is likely that the flu wave will continue to rise into next week or plateau.” explained Octavian Jurma.
The doctor points out that the 17 deaths recently reported show that “the strong downward trend is primarily due to the unusually high underestimation of the number of cases during the holiday period”, and in reality the number of illnesses continued to increase or decreased much more slowly than the official data indicated.
Since the beginning of the 2025–2026 season, 70,591 cases of influenza have been reported in Romania, a number that “is greater than that of the entire 2022–2023 or 2023–2024 seasons” and which will exceed by the end of February and the total of the 2024–2025 season.
In the absence of clear data, forecasts remain uncertain. However, “it’s pretty certain that this new upward phase of the flu wave won’t last more than 1-3 weeks” and is unlikely to top the December peak, although it could cross the 10,000-week mark again.
On this background, Octavian Jurma recommends “rational prudence until the end of February”, by maintaining preventive measures, both pharmaceutical, such as vaccination, and non-pharmaceutical: mask, distancing, ventilation and hygiene, along with quick presentation to the doctor in case of infection.
The doctor compares the situation of the flu to that of COVID-19 and warns that although only 627 new cases of COVID-19 have been registered, they have generated five deaths. “This means that the apparent mortality of 0.8% in COVID-19 remains 10 times that of influenza”against the background of the lack of the anti-COVID vaccine in Romania.
“It is serious irresponsibility of the health authorities in Romania, who decided to completely ignore the threat of COVID-19”, warns Octavian Jurma, claiming that a new epidemic wave is expected in the summer of this year.
