Season overview
2020-2021 season overview
- For the Region as a whole, influenza activity has been at baseline level since the start of the season.
- In total, 694 specimens have tested positive for influenza viruses, 29 from sentinel sources and 665 from non-sentinel sources, with type A (both subtypes) and type B (both lineages) viruses being detected.
- Since the start of the season, few hospitalized laboratory-confirmed influenza cases have been reported: 11 from ICUs (all infected with type A viruses); 8 (all type A viruses) in wards outside ICUs; and 10 from severe acute respiratory infection (SARI)-based surveillance (7 infected with type A viruses and 3 with type B).
- WHO has published recommendations for the composition of influenza vaccines to be used in the 2020–2021 northern hemisphere season.
Influenza positivity
- As of week 07/2021, for the European Region, influenza virus positivity in sentinel specimens remained below the epidemic threshold, which is set at 10%.
External data sources
Mortality monitoring:
- Overall pooled estimates of all-cause mortality for 27 countries or areas participating in the EuroMOMO project showed decreasing excess all-cause mortality after a period with high levels of excess mortality among the participating European countries.