ECDC publishes influenza virus characterisation report

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 current vaccine strains, summarise the development of viruses since the last report and closely follow the main developments for the ongoing influenza season.

On 8 December 2020, the ECCDC published the second virus characterisation period report for the 2020 to 2021 influenza season. As of week 48 of 2020, 288 influenza detections across the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region had been reported. Of these, 52% were type A viruses, with A(H3N2) prevailing over A(H1N1)pdm09, and 48% were type B viruses, with two having been ascribed to a lineage, both being B/Victoria. These figures represent a 96% drop in detections compared with the same period in 2019.

Source: ECDC, 8 December 2020