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A severe influenza outbreak has started in France, according to the Institute of Public Health, French daily Le Figaro reports, according to Sputnik News.

An influenza epidemic has been in full swing across France for the second consecutive week and it is much more severe than last year, the daily says.

Between January 19 and 25, the Institute of Public Health recorded a two-fold increase in a number of visits to the hospitals with symptoms of flu than a week prior to that – 470 influenza cases per 100,000 people. According to doctors, the most common virus during the current epidemic is Type A virus: H3N2 has been found in 63 percent of all cases, followed by H1N1, the notorious swine flu, which struck 23 percent of the sick, Le Figaro reports.

Doctors of the Institute of Public Health say that the current epidemic could last up to six weeks, with an expected peak within the next three to four weeks. This year influenza epidemic has already surpassed the one from last year that had 325 cases per 100,000 people.