The number of influenza patients has surged nearly 14-fold since four weeks ago. 

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) on Friday, 99-point-eight out of every one-thousand outpatients were estimated to be influenza patients in the first week of this month. 

The figure is one-point-four times the figure recorded a week ago, nearly 74 per thousand.

And it is 13-point-seven times the figure posted four weeks ago, shortly before the influenza alert was issued nationwide.

Last week, the number of patients having contracted the influenza virus reached the highest level since 2016.

The KDCA projected that flu patient numbers will start to decline in one or two weeks.