Testing rates, Covid and the lockdown effect: what’s driving Australia’s big flu season?

Australia has had almost 90,000 confirmed cases of influenza so far this year and 700 people have been admitted to hospital since the beginning of April. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

Australia is experiencing some of the highest levels of confirmed influenza cases, fever and cough in the last five years, but this hasn’t translated to an “unprecedented” number of hospitalisations.

Experts say one reason cases increase year-to-year is because testing is becoming more accessible. This is especially so now, after two years of Covid lockdowns and isolation.