Photo/Illutration A doctor examines a patient at a hospital in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Dec. 23. (Ryuta Sometaya)

The average number of influenza cases per medical institution for a week reached a record high of 64.39 in late December, the health ministry said on Jan. 9.

From Dec. 23 to Dec. 29, 317,812 new influenza cases were reported at around 5,000 designated medical institutions nationwide.

The average for that week--64.39 patients--is the highest since the current survey method began in 1999. It was a huge increase from the average of 42.66 influenza cases per institution in the previous week.

By prefecture, Oita recorded the highest average, at 104.84 patients, followed by Kagoshima with 96.4 and Saga with 94.36. Cases were particularly high in the Kyushu region.

Forty-three of the nation’s 47 prefectures exceeded the warning level of 30 cases per institution, with only Akita, Yamagata, Toyama and Okinawa remaining below that benchmark.

The number of influenza patients requiring hospitalization jumped to 5,144, an increase of about 1.7 times from the previous week’s 3,115.

The number of people admitted to intensive care units was 259, up by 121 from the week before.

However, as many schools entered their winter break, class closures due to influenza dropped to 1,312, down from the previous week’s 4,411.

The rapid surge in infections has put pressure on drug supplies.

Sawai Pharmaceutical Co., a major drug manufacturer based in Osaka, announced on Jan. 8 that it would suspend supplies of its generic version of anti-influenza drug Tamiflu.

The company cited difficulties in producing enough of the drug to meet rising demand.

Sawai Pharmaceutical produces two types of the drug: syrup and capsules. It plans to resume supplies of the syrup in late January and the capsules in early February.

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