NO outbreak of influenza has been found at Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Nanshan District, the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday, refuting the rumor that an epidemic of flu might have occurred at the industrial park, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

The rumor claimed that the outpatient department of Tencent Clinic in Shenzhen had received 101 patients in one day recently, 76 of whom had upper respiratory tract infections.

CDC staffers subsequently contacted the clinic Tuesday. The clinic said the number of visits for upper respiratory tract infections had increased significantly in recent days, but there were few cases of influenza-like infections actually diagnosed.

Only two patients have tested positive for influenza-like antigen, filled in the infectious disease report card and been reported, according to the clinic.

However, the risk that a flu epidemic may break out is still increasing, said Tang Xiujuan, deputy chief physician with the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Institute of the Shenzhen CDC.

Tang said the number of visits for influenza-like illnesses and the positive rate of influenza virus detection in the city have both increased in the past two weeks. For Jan. 9 to 15, the seasonal pandemic flu alert remains at Grade II, meaning that flu cases are prone to occur.

Meanwhile, samples of influenza-like cases from December 2018 to January 2019 show that influenza A (H1N1) accounted for 89.7 percent while influenza A (H3N1) accounted for 10.3 percent, indicating that the former was more prevalent in Shenzhen, according to pathogenic monitoring.

(Zhang Yu)