Flu season is normal but record spike in cases due to better tests, says NSW Health

NSW is facing an early flu season, with record numbers of cases already diagnosed weeks before the usual peak, but reports that it is set to be the worst season ever are overblown, NSW Health says.

Half-year figures published by NSW Health show there have been 6474 influenza cases across the state this year, the highest number since records were published in 2001. Parts of Sydney are suffering more than others, the figures show.

"What we have seen is a much higher number of notifications of influenza than past years, but this doesn't mean it's any worse than the past years," Vicky Sheppeard, the director of communicable disease at NSW Health, said.

NSW Health expected to see "a large increase in infections in the coming weeks", she said, with the peak influenza season due to hit within the next three to six weeks.

Dr Sheppeard said the real indicators of severity - the numbers of people presenting to emergency departments or being admitted to hospital or critical care with flu - were no worse than in previous years.

The health department attributed the spike to the increased use of more sensitive testing measures in general practice.

"It's pretty much an average year as far as the season goes. The difference is that it is a bit earlier than usual," she said.

Those who have been stricken with the flu this year are more likely to live in Sydney, the department's figures show.

In the past week alone, 552 of 721 confirmed cases in NSW were in the Sydney area.

Western Sydney was the state's worst flu hot spot with 199 cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza, while north Sydney was a close second with 135 cases.

Dr Sheppeard urged the public to consider getting the flu vaccine, which remains the best protection against the virus. The vaccine is free for higher-risk groups including pregnant women, people with certain chronic medical conditions and most Aboriginal people.

This year's flu vaccine covers the four influenza strains circulating in Australia.

Opposition health spokesman Walt Secord said the flu was "smashing NSW emergency departments" and said the government had "dropped the ball on prevention".

"The last thing that the NSW health and hospital system needs is to see hundreds of extra patients pouring into emergency departments with preventable flu symptoms."