Cases of flu in Scotland have more than doubled in the space of a week.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) figures show that in the week of 24-30 November, lab-confirmed cases rose sharply to 1,759 compared to 845 the previous week.
Hospital admissions as a result of the illness also rose by 70%, from 426 to 724.
PHS said cases had reached medium activity levels, and that this comes two weeks earlier than in previous flu seasons.
Earlier this week, Health Secretary Neil Gray said Scotland was facing a “challenging” strain of the illness, but assured the public that there were adequate stocks of flu vaccine.
Experts warned at the start of November that the UK would have a long, drawn-out flu season and that a new variant of flu was spreading more easily.
Scotland’s flue season started earlier than usual with a sharp rise in mid-November.
Flu-like illness has now increased in all groups, but to a higher intensity in the younger age groups – ages one to four and five to 14.
However, about 40% of hospital admissions were people aged 65 and over – which PHS said was broadly consistent with previous flu seasons.
According to National Records of Scotland, there were 17 deaths provisionally registered with flu as the underlying cause and 21 where flu was mentioned on the death certificate.
Those figures, respectively, were 137 and 171 at the peak of the last winter flu season – most of which were people over the age of 80.
This week BBC Scotland News contacted all 14 health boards and 32 councils to find out about the impact of the flu spike on hospitals and schools.
Four councils responded – some noted that pupil absences were broadly in line with previous years, though East Lothian Council had a higher pupil absence rate compared to the same week last year.
Midlothian Council said its school staff absence rate was “high” for a variety of reasons including colds/flu.
More health boards responded, all broadly saying flu cases were higher this year, with some introducing ward restrictions or face coverings as precautions.
Glasgow’s health board has been telling patients to stay at home to treat themselves, and to avoid A&E when suffering mild or moderate flu symptoms.
Dumfries and Galloway’s medical director has also urged people not to visit hospitals, care homes, or other healthcare settings if they are unwell.
