A paediatrician warned on Saturday that the summer flu season could persist in the coming weeks until December, urging the public, especially young children, to get vaccinated as quickly as possible to deal with a rather “unusual” outbreak.

Hong Kong has seen 17 severe influenza cases among those aged 11 months to 17 years since early September, including one that was fatal.

Professor Patrick Ip from the University of Hong Kong’s department of paediatrics said the city is facing a much more severe summertime influenza outbreak than in previous years.

“We are facing more [severe] outbreaks as well as more severe complications partly because of insufficient influenza vaccination coverage this year,” he said.

“So we are hoping that our students, the elderly, as well as the general public can receive the influenza vaccination this year as early as possible in order to boost their immunity coverage and also to be in a much safer condition to face the coming seasonal outbreak of influenza in the wintertime.”

He said it was even more critical to get vaccinated this year as the summer and winter flu outbreaks are expected to overlap.

With the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance kicking in come January, Ip said most paediatricians have been receiving training over the past few months.

The new ordinance requires professionals specified under 25 categories across the social welfare, education and healthcare sectors to report suspected child abuse cases to the authorities.

The government also launched guidelines in July to help medical, education and social work professionals prepare, with Ip saying that most medical professionals had found them helpful and practical.