Severe pediatric influenza case prompts urgent vaccination reminder from health authorities.

CHP urges public to promptly receive seasonal influenza vaccination as another severe paediatric influenza infection case reported

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) today (January 13) recorded a severe paediatric influenza infection case. The CHP again reminded parents to arrange for their children to receive a free seasonal influenza vaccination (SIV) promptly. The SIV remains one of the most effective methods of preventing influenza and its complications, and can reduce the risk of serious complications or death from infection.

The case involves a 6-month-old boy with good past health. He developed a fever and malaise on January 7 and was brought to a private clinic on the same day. He developed shortness of breath and decrease feeding on January 9, and was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit of Princess Margaret Hospital for treatment on the following day. He is currently in critical condition. His respiratory specimen tested positive for influenza A (H3) virus upon laboratory testing. The clinical diagnosis is influenza A infection complicated with severe pneumonia, sepsis and shock.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the boy has not yet received the 2025/26 SIV and had no travel history during the incubation period. Two of his household contacts developed mild respiratory symptoms earlier. The nasal swab sample of one of the household contacts tested positive for influenza A virus via rapid antigen test. The symptoms were mild and hospitalisation was not required.

The summer influenza season which ended last week recorded 25 severe paediatric influenza cases, including three fatal cases. The affected children were aged between 6 months to 17 years old. Among them, 20 cases (80 per cent) had not received an SIV (including one case who received the 2025/26 SIV only four days before onset of illness). As it generally takes two weeks for the body to develop sufficient protection after vaccination, the case was not protected by the vaccine. Therefore, it is not counted as being vaccinated.

"The summer influenza season was ended. However, influenza activity may rise again as the weather remains cold in the first quarter of this year and it cannot be ruled out that the circulating virus strains may change as the winter influenza season approaches. Therefore, I once again urge all individuals aged 6 months or older, except those with known contraindications, to act promptly if they have not yet received an SIV. This includes those who contracted influenza during the summer influenza season in order to guard against other circulating virus strains that may emerge during the upcoming winter influenza season. Furthermore, although there are some antigenic differences between the currently circulating influenza A (H3) virus strain and the virus strain contained in the vaccine, scientific research indicates that this season's influenza vaccines can still offer protection against the variant strain of subclade K, as well as the influenza A (H1) and influenza B strains included in the vaccine," the Controller of the CHP, Dr Edwin Tsui, said.

"Although the influenza activity has declined to below the baseline level at the moment, outbreaks caused by influenza viruses still occurred in schools and residential care homes. For children who did not join the SIV School Outreach Programme, parents should promptly bring their children toprivate doctorsenrolled in the Vaccination Subsidy Scheme to receive an SIV. In addition, the SIV coverage rate for children aged 6 months to under 2 years is only about 23 per cent. Although this represents an approximate 4 percentage point increase compared to the same period last year, it is still much lower than that of other age groups. Through the Primary Healthcare Commission, the CHP has urged family doctors to assist in encouraging parents to allow their children to receive an SIV," Dr Tsui added.

He also reminded members of the public that, especially for children, the elderly and those with underlying illnesses, they should seek medical advice promptly for early treatment if they present with fever and respiratory symptoms. As children with influenza can deteriorate rapidly, parents must pay close attention to their children's condition. They should go to an Accident and Emergency Department immediately if the child's condition deteriorates, for example, if they develop symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing, blue lips, chest pain, confusion, a persistent fever or convulsions.

Separately, high-risk individuals should wear surgical masks when staying in crowded places. People with respiratory symptoms, even if mild, should wear a surgical mask and seek medical advice promptly. They should also consider whether to attend work or school.

In addition to issuing timely reminders to healthcare professionals and schools based on the latest seasonal influenza development, the CHP also uploads the latest seasonal influenza information on its website weekly. Members of the public can visit the CHP'sseasonal influenzaandCOVID-19 & Flu Expresswebpages.

Source: AI-found images

Remarks by SLW on new "continuous contract" requirement under Employment Ordinance and Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance

Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, after attending Care the Carers Campaign – Carer-friendly Commendation Ceremony this afternoon (January 13):

Reporter: With regard to the new "468" (new "continuous contract" requirement under Employment Ordinance) employment rule, how would that better safeguard part-timers' rights and how would the government respond to those who remain exploited under the new rule, and what protection mechanisms are in place?

Secretary for Labour and Welfare: The new "468" arrangement will come into force on January 18. This is going to be a very clear improvement over the existing arrangement, what we now call "418" as the existing "continuous contract" requirement under the Employment Ordinance. The major improvement is in the calculation of working hours. Under the existing "continuous contract" requirement, the major concern for quite a number of employees is that their working hours for three consecutive weeks are quite long, with very short working hours in the fourth week, and they do not meet the "continuous contract" requirement.

However, once we have changed to "468", that would no longer be the case. If counting for over a period of four weeks, employees will meet the new "continuous contract" requirements if they worked for the employer concerned for 68 hours or more. The employers have to provide a full suite of privileges under the requirements of the Employment Ordinance. I think this is what we are trying to achieve. And for that change, it is achieved through a long discussion at the Labour Advisory Board, with the consensus agreement from both employee and employer members, and then we implement it through amendment to the Employment Ordinance.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)

Source: AI-found images