Ireland's current flu outbreak will not peak until the middle of January, when up to 800 people could be hospitalised per week due to the virus, according to the Health Service Executive.
HSE officials made the prediction at a winter viruses meeting, which also heard that the new JN.1 Covid-19 variant is becoming the dominant strain and that while RSV cases are falling, they remain high.
The National Clinical Lead for Health Protection Surveillance said more than 10,000 flu cases have been recorded since the middle of December.
Dr Greg Martin said this figure has not peaked and is expected to reach 2,700 cases per week and 800 hospitalisations per week by the middle of January before an expected fall.