Australian state urges residents to get vaccinated amid spike in influenza cases

SYDNEY, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Residents of Australia's most populous state of New South Wales (NSW) have been urged to get vaccinated amid a rise in influenza cases.

The Department of Health of NSW said on Thursday that there were more than 3,100 new cases of influenza reported in the state in the week to June 7, representing an increase of 10.6 percent compared to the previous week.

It said that the number of new flu cases has increased every week since May 10 and that the reported figures represent a "small" proportion of the cases in the community because most people do not undergo testing.

Jeremy McAnulty, executive director of Health Protection NSW, said in a statement that influenza is now circulating at moderate levels in the community.

"We are strongly encouraging people to book in for their flu vaccine now," he said.

"Vaccination is the best protection against infection and severe disease."

According to data from the federal government's National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, there had been 109,274 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza across Australia in 2025 as of Thursday, 40,766 of which were in NSW.

As of the end of May, there had been 96,247 confirmed cases across Australia compared to 73,640 at the same point in 2024 and 66,069 in 2023. Enditem