Flu season has started early this year with all of mainland France on epidemic or pre-epidemic alert at the start of December.
The number of influenza cases is rising sharply in all age groups in towns and hospitals around France, according to the weekly bulletin from December 2 to 8 on Acute Respiratory Infections published by Santé publique France.
There are two strains behind the current epidemic, the report states: an A (H1N1) and B influenza virus.
The number of cases has risen faster than in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 but slightly slower than in 2022 or 2023.
Early epidemic
The seasonal flu epidemic generally begins from November each year and sometimes lasts until April, however this year the inflection rate has been relatively high for several months.
The Ile-de-France region has been at epidemic level since the end of November, and has since been joined by Normandy, Hauts-de-France and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
Around 10,000 people die from flu every year in France, according to data from the Ministry of Health, which also estimates that vaccination helps prevent 2,000 additional deaths.
