Over the past week in the region:

• The region is in its 8th week of the flu epidemic. Despite a relatively slow decline in the epidemic over the past two weeks, flu activity remains very high, with the H3N2 virus still predominant. SOS Médecins reports that 15% of visits are for flu-like symptoms, still well above the epidemic threshold of 4%. The number of severe cases hospitalized in intensive care (92 cases) has exceeded the number observed during each of the last five epidemic seasons (18 to 81 cases), with incidence increasing starting at age 50. Excess mortality among people over 85 years of age has been around 25% since early January, with a recent increase.

• 169 clusters of acute respiratory infections (ARI) have been reported in nursing homes since September 1, 2014. Reports of ARI clusters are significant, with 31 new epidemic clusters reported since the last update. Week 6 saw a peak in outbreaks, with 37 clusters in a single week. A complete report is already available for 45% of these outbreaks: on average, the outbreaks affect one-quarter of residents, with a hospitalization rate of 7.7% and a case fatality rate of 2.4%.

• Ten hospitals in the region have activated their "hospital under strain" plan to cope with the increased demand for hospitalization. Given the saturation of healthcare facilities and the ongoing outbreaks in nursing homes, the situation remains very tense. To try to limit the need for hospitalization, recommendations for antiviral treatment of flu cases are regularly reiterated to nursing homes.