Australians warned over 'virus triple threat'

He said it was important to get vaccinated early to ensure Australians were best protected.

“We are seeing a large escalation of respiratory virus occurring,” he said.

“We are also seeing flu cases going up at the moment, we are also seeing COVID-19 cases starting to rise too.”

Queensland Health has reported 6,374 influenza cases recorded between 1 January and 9 April this year, “with numbers continuing to rise”.

Dr McKay said the rise was due to many people, particularly children, not getting vaccinated against the flu.

“The main problem here is that we are really not vaccinating enough people against flu,” he said.

Read Related Also: Dallas-based Southwest Airlines scrubs more than 500 flights, about 12% of its entire schedule

“We (can) forget about kids. We have been concentrating on the elderly when it comes to COVID-19, but when it comes to flu, it is those young kids who are under the age of five who actually can get a free vaccine if you are between six months old and five years old.

“Hardly anybody in that age group is being vaccinated. We really need parents to get out there and go to your GP, to to your pharmacy, yeah, have your vaccinations across-the- board.”

Just two per cent of children aged six months to five years have received a flu vaccine this year, and only 1.4 per cent of five to 15-year-olds, according to the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance.

The flu shot is free for kids under five.

It comes days after the World Health Organisation warned of a new Omicron subvariant XBB 1.16 – colloquially known as “Arcturus” – circulating.