Influenza virus characterisation report, October 2020

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) periodically publishes influenza characterisation reports, giving an overview of circulating influenza viruses. These reports provide details on the current vaccine strains, summarise the development of the viruses since the last report and closely follow the main developments for the ongoing influenza season.

On 19 October 2020, the ECDC published the first virus characterisation period report for the 2020 to 2021 influenza season. As of week 44 of 2020, 39 influenza detections across the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region had been reported. Of these, 59% were type A viruses, with A(H3N2) prevailing over A(H1N1)pdm09, and 41% were type B viruses, with none having been ascribed to a lineage. This represents a 97% drop in detections compared with the same period in 2019.

Source: ECDC, 13 November 2020