Severe respiratory illness among hospitalized patients in Iran has increased, while respiratory symptoms among outpatient visitors have decreased.

For the week ending on October 23, Iran’s Ministry of Health’s Center for Disease Control and Management reported that the share of outpatients with influenza-like symptoms was 8.6 percent and the share of hospitalized patients with severe acute respiratory infection was 11 percent.

The percentage of positive influenza tests in six provinces is above the high warning threshold. These six provinces are Bushehr, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Khuzestan, Fars, and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari.

Forty-nine and three-tenths percent of positive influenza cases belong to children. The share of the 6 to 15 age group is 30 percent, the 2 to 5 age group is 13.8 percent, and the under-2 age group is 5.5 percent.