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Japan has seen 6,000 hospitalisations and the closure of over 200 schools as an influenza outbreak rips through the nation.

The country's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) announced on October 3 that the country had entered the flu season.

This was the second-earliest start in two decades, arriving five weeks earlier than in 2024.

In the week to 5 October, cases rose to 6,013, a massive 50% increase from the previous week.

Professor Yoko Tsukamoto of Hokkaido University of Health Sciences, pointing to how travel facilitates viral changes, said: "The flu season has started really early this year, but in the changing global environment this might become a more common scenario.”

On X, users are starting to fear that the spread of influenza could lead to a similar

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