SEOUL: South Korea could be facing an imminent "twindemic" of seasonal influenza and the coronavirus, raising concerns whether the country's medical system will be able to cope with it.
Medical experts, who raised the possibility of the "twindemic", said medical data showed its possibility was real, given that people have not been building up immunity against the flu virus in the past couple of years.
The Korea Times reports that the country had avoided harsh flu seasons in the past two years due to Covid-19 social distancing measures but as restrictions are eased, an active flu season has been anticipated during the year end.
This is especially so as almost all social distancing measures, including the mandatory wearing of face masks outdoors, have been lifted and people could be more easily exposed to the virus . The government had fully dropped the mask requirement outdoors since Sept 26.
Data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) shows that in the final week of last month, 7.1 out of 1,000 visitors to hospitals were reported to have influenza. This is a 45 per cent surge from 4.9 in the previous week.
The agency had issued an influenza warning in mid-September for the first time since 2019 and it was now monitoring the number of flu patients in 200 hospitals nationwide.
Dr Chon Eun-mi, a respiratory disease specialist at Ewha Women's University Mokdong Hospital, said the sudden surge of flu patients could be attributed to the recent easing of the mask mandate.
"There could be various reasons, but for one thing, people have become less cautious about Covid-19 infections after the mask compliance was lifted," she said.
The number of gatherings also seems to have returned to pre-pandemic days and it creates an environment where any viruses, including the flu, can spread easily, she told The Korea Times.
She noted that the country's flu season typically spans from November to April, but it seems to have arrived earlier.
"Timely differential diagnosis of flu and coronavirus at hospitals is important since the two diseases have some common symptoms," Dr Chon said, while advising that high risk groups, especially babies and young children who have never had a flu shot, to be vaccinated this year.
The South Korean government started its annual flu vaccination programme on Sept 21, with children aged between six months to 13 years old, people aged 65 years and older, as well as pregnant women being offered a free shot.
The Korea Times report said that adding to the concerns was the spread of respiratory diseases other than flu. In particular, the country is seeing an unusual surge in human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infections.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HMPV which was discovered in 2001, can cause upper and lower respiratory disease in people of all ages. It could especially affect young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.
Dr Chon said HMPV causes cold-like symptoms such as cough, fever, and runny nose and that babies aged six months to one year were more prone to the disease than adults.
"It can be lethal to them since it can progress to bronchitis and pneumonia," she explained.
In the last week of September, 940 patients were reported to have been infected with viral respiratory diseases in South Korea, 31.5 per cent of whom were infected with HMPV. The disease had not been reported in the same period of last year.
She added that there was currently no vaccine against HMPV, making prevention through proper personal hygiene and wearing face masks highly important.