Influenza is affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Japan and rising rapidly among that nation's population of 124.5 million and overwhelming many healthcare providers and drugmakers.

In the week through Dec. 29, the total number of reported flu cases was nearly three times the number from the same period in 2023.

Japan in the last week of December experienced the biggest influenza outbreak since comparable data became available 25 years ago, health authorities said Thursday.

By bno - Tokyo bureau Japan has seen a dramatic spike in flu cases, reaching the highest levels since record-keeping began in 1999. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, influenza cases across the country surged to a staggering 317,