00:00Queensland health figures show that there have been more than 95,000 cases reported so far this year.
00:10Now, last year, there was just shy of 80,000 recorded for the entire year.
00:15So with a couple of weeks to go, we're already up 18% on 2024.
00:21Now, unusually for summer, there's still quite a bit of flu around,
00:25with about 1,600 cases recorded last week alone.
00:28Now, as of Sunday, there were 66 people in hospital with the flu.
00:33The vast majority of those cases are aged over 65.
00:38Now, the number of people in hospital has significantly declined
00:41from the peak of the flu season in July and August.
00:45But again, it's a lot for mid-December.
00:48And experts aren't too sure why we're seeing this summer spike.
00:53It could be due to the high volumes of people travelling
00:56or perhaps low vaccination rates.
00:58But a new, more vaccine-resistant strain is also emerging.
01:03It's called the K-strain.
01:05This is probably what's largely circulating now.
01:09We know it's mostly H3N2.
01:11And in fact, this has also been seen in the Northern Hemisphere now
01:16as they're starting their winter.
01:18While this strain spreads easily because it's more resistant to vaccines,
01:22experts say vaccines still offer some protection.
01:26We know it.
01:26But in a reason,
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