At the national level, the overall influenza activity continued to decrease this week.
All FluWatch influenza indicators declined for at least the third consecutive week. The ILI consultation rate was even within the expected ranged for this time of the year.
The Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 strain accounted for nearly 100% of the positive influenza A subtyped specimens this week.
The intensity of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in the population was moderate. A decline has been experienced by all provinces and territories as indicated in the continued decreasing number of reported hospitalized cases (307 vs. 804), ICU admissions (83 vs. 139) and deaths (33 vs. 56) reported this week. Hospitalized cases occurred in all provinces and territories (PTs) that reported this week except YT while the deaths were from all PTs except NB, PE, NT and NU. From August 30 to December 5, 2009, a total of 6,621 hospitalized cases including 1,041 (15.7%) cases admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) as well as 292 (4.4%) deaths had been reported.