A remote Northern Territory Indigenous community is medically evacuating two residents a day as the Top End deals with a "tsunami" of flu cases during its worst outbreak in years.The Northern Territory has already recorded 28 times more flu cases in 2022 compared to 2021The early onset meant authorities were not able to undertake mass vaccinations beforehand
"You're in the thick of it, and you just deal with what turns up, but those evacuations are on top of our normal core business.""The flu season definitely has come a lot earlier and a lot harder than was anticipated, so we didn't have the opportunity to do a mass vaccination," she said.Ms Gatti said the clinic had also run out of a drug that helped relieve symptoms of influenza, but the federal government was able to provide more after 48 hours.
A spokesperson for the NT Department of Health said it had a plan in place to combat seasonal flu, including "reconfiguring resources as required", but did not provide details of what it involved.The spokesperson said there had been 2,162 recorded cases of flu across the NT this season, with 140 people admitted to hospital.There were 76 cases of flu recorded last year, when five patients were admitted to hospital.
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