Flu season has officially started in Canada, public health agency says
CTV
The Public Health Agency of Canada says flu season is officially underway in this country. As of Nov. 25, 7.5 per cent of people tested for influenza across Canada were positive.
Flu season has officially begun in Canada, the federal public health agency said on Friday.
"At the national level, influenza activity has crossed the seasonal threshold, indicating the start of influenza season," the Public Health Agency of Canada said in its weekly FluWatch report posted online.
The rate of tests that were positive for flu stayed above five per cent for two consecutive weeks.
As of Nov. 25, 7.5 per cent of people tested for influenza across Canada were positive.
The number of cases is climbing, said Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
"If you plan to get a flu vaccine, now is a really good time to do it," she said in an interview.
"The flu season starting now tells you that there's going to be a lot of flu at the end of December and the beginning of January," McGeer said, noting the flu shot takes about two weeks to prime people's immune systems.
