VISITOR RESTRICTIONS HAVE been imposed at two hospitals over outbreaks of flu, as new figures show the number of people admitted has more than doubled in a week.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre says that 44 people were admitted to hospital with the virus in the week up to Thursday, more than doubling the 18 in the week previous.

The average age of those admitted was 59, the HSPC says.

The majority of the outbreak came in Dublin and Limerick, the HSPC said.

So far this winter, six people have died from flu, with five in the 65 and over age category.

In Dublin, St James’s Hospital has stepped up visiting restrictions following a flu outbreak by completely suspending all weekend visitations.

Meanwhile in Cork, Mercy University Hospital (MUH) has also started to implement restrictions due to an increased number of flu cases.

In Europe, the influenza season is well under way, in particular in western and central European countries. The overall proportion of positive diagnoses in Europe increased to 48% during last week.

Read: Visiting ‘completely suspended’ at St James’s as flu outbreak takes hold

Read: Flu vaccine doesn’t exactly match the flu that’s going around

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