Amid rise in flu cases, Health Ministry recommends vulnerable people wear protective face masks

Due to the steep rise in flu cases over the past few weeks, the Health Ministry says it recommends that at-risk people, medical staff and visitors to geriatric institutions wear protective face masks.

The ministry says that as of December 7, there have been 513 new cases of influenza A and one positive case of Influenza B, based on reports from 14 hospitals.

Over the past three weeks, four children have died from the flu, three of whom were unvaccinated and had no underlying conditions, and one who had an underlying condition. In comparison, a total of four children died of the flu during last year’s flu season.

The ministry calls on the public, especially people aged 65 and over and people with chronic illnesses, to get a flu vaccine.

Almost one in six Israelis is vaccinated against the flu. The ministry reports a significant rise in the number of people who have been vaccinated in the past few weeks: more than 1.5 million have been vaccinated, representing 15.7 percent of the population.

To date, 50.1 percent of all women and men aged 65 and over have been vaccinated against influenza, compared to some 48% in the 2024-2025 and 2023-2024 seasons. Three seasons ago (2022-2023), some 55% of the elderly were vaccinated.

Globally, influenza has been characterized by morbidity levels higher than the multi-year average and starting earlier than usual. The earlier-than-expected rise in morbidity is due to a new sub-variant of influenza A, A(H3N2), the K sub-variant.