Healthcare official: so-called Hong Kong virus, flu, “much more dangerous” for children than current coronavirus variant

Ivane Chkhaidze, the medical director of Iashvili children’s hospital on Saturday said the “overwhelming” majority of flu cases have been the so-called Hong Kong H3-N2 virus, which appears to be more severe in children, unlike the current coronavirus variant.

The medical director of Iashvili children’s hospital said the flu was “especially severe” in children under the age of one year and urged parents to vaccinate against the flu, as children under the age of two years belonged to a “high-risk group”.

Chkhaidze told the media the peak of flu cases had to be expected in the December-January period, so he recommended risk groups get vaccinated and noted free flu vaccination would be available till Tuesday.

According to Chkhaidze, a “similar” increase of the coronavirus and other types of viruses was expected, which would complicate the process of distinguishing the type of virus in specific cases. He also noted that “two-three years” of anti-epidemic measures had “practically” extinguished the flu immunity of certain categories of people.

Chkhaidze explained that the World Health Organisation predicted three types of viruses for the 2022-23 season, while advising the healthcare system to focus on influenza and coronavirus, as well as respiratory sensitive virus, which mainly occurs in children and causes bronchiolitis or inflammation of the lungs with respiratory failure.