'Australian flu': spread prompts handshake ban in Northern Ireland churches

Catholic diocese of Down and Connor suspends ‘sign of peace’ during services and calls for sanitary measures around holy communion

A Catholic diocese in Northern Ireland has suspended the “sign of peace” handshake in its masses due to the risk of infection from a strain of the flu first seen in Australia in the southern hemisphere’s 2017 winter.

At least 170,000 cases were confirmed at the end of the Australian winter, more than twice as many as in 2016. Health officials say they logged 72 flu-related deaths.

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Continue reading... January 06, 2018 at 08:24AM