According to health authorities on Thursday, Japan recorded the highest number of flu cases in a single week during the last week of December since comparable data became available 25 years ago.
Between December 23 and 29, a total of 317,812 individuals were diagnosed with the flu across the archipelago, which is three times higher than the same period a year earlier and marks a weekly record since statistics began in 1999.
This translates to an average of 64.39 patients per facility, based on data collected from 5,000 clinics nationwide, as reported by the Ministry of Health. This figure is significantly higher than the average of 21.65 during the last week of 2023.
Flu cases typically rise during the winter months in Japan and other regions. In 2024, Australia reported over 350,000 laboratory-confirmed flu cases, exceeding the previous record of 313,615 set in 2019, according to its national disease surveillance system.
