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This morning, we got a chance to speak with the Ministry of Health's Head of Epidemiology via phone about the spike, and what it means for public health. Here's what he told us:

Voice of: Dr. Ethan Goff, Head of Epidemiology - Ministry of Health
"Karl Heusner notified the Ministry of Health that they have had an increase in the number of people with respiratory illness, flue-like illness who require hospital admission, that they have seen an increase in that over a period of a month or so. And so in response to that we put out a press release to inform the public of that and also to remind the public that we are in the flu season and so there are some precautions that need to be taken to protect themselves and limit transmission of any respiratory illnesses, any flu-like illnesses. So the increase was really reported to us by Karl Heusner."

Reporter
"What exactly are considered severe acute respiratory illnesses?"

Voice of: Dr. Ethan Goff
"That's a term that we use mainly for surveillance purposes. So respiratory illness is relay badly any flu-like illness, common cold, basically - cough, sore throat, body aches and we add the severe to it. If somebody who has those sort of symptoms needs to be admitted to the hospital for additional care, because that's an indication that that person in that particular case a more severe illness. Otherwise they would not need to be hospitalized and so it's a broad classification that we use for surveillance purposes just to identify when there might be any shifts or any change in the severity of whatever germs might be in circulation in the country. It supposed to be part of a system to give us an early alert that there might be any notable shifts in what's in circulation of the country."

"Respiratory infections are generally all transmitted the same way and so the measures that you need to take to protect yourself and limit transmission to other people is proper hand hygiene. Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, also cover your coughs and sneezes. So if you are coughing or sneezing, try not to cough into your hands, because then you just contaminate your hands and then when you go and touch surfaces, you contaminate those and if you have any signs or symptoms, try to limit contact and interaction with other people to limit the chances of transmission to others."

The Ministry of Health says that the elderly population and persons with certain medical conditions can contribute to the severity of the flu, and the Ministry is recommending that such persons get a flu vaccine.

To help prevent the spread of the flu, the Ministry recommends frequent hand washing with soap and clean water. If you need to cough and sneeze, it is best to do these into your sleeves and not your hands. That provides opportunities for contamination of other surfaces that your hand then comes in contact with. Also keep your hands away from your face. Keep common surfaces, such as doorknobs and counters clean, and if you are ill, it is advisable that you limit contact with others as much as possible. If the flu symptoms become severe, it is best that you visit the nearest health facility.