It may sound obvious, but as the winter flu season approaches, one of the best ways to fend off the bug is to wash your hands.
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Tracey Oakman, the director of public health for the Murrumbidgee Local Health District, said the annual free flu vaccines programs would start to be rolled out from mid-April.
But, she said, there were precautions people could take in the meantime to help minimise their risks.
"The greatest prevention is washing your hands before you put anything in your mouth," Mrs Oakman said.
"Yes, the virus is airborne, but it lands on surfaces that we touch.
"Washing your hands is actually the best way of protecting against a whole range of things."
Mrs Oakman said the beginning of May would be a good time for people to have their flu shot, so now was the time to organise an appointment.
"We used to start doing it in March, but more recent data shows that the vaccine does wear off, so it's not good to get it too early and then have it starting to wear off when peak flu season hits."
Traditionally, that peak season is late winter and early spring, but there has been an increase in the number of summer flu cases, according to NSW Health.
There were more than 2200 cases in NSW during February, almost double the same month in 2018, with aged care facilities being hit hard.
In the week ending March 3, there were 12 cases reported in the Murrumbidgee area.
Mrs Oakman suggested that anyone planning to travel overseas before the traditional flu season in NSW, should think about getting their shot before they leave.
NSW Health's communicable diseases branch director Vicky Sheppeard said several factors were contributing to the high level of unseasonal summer flu cases.
"Some of the increase follows a late influenza season across tropical parts of Australia, which affected northern NSW, and now it's likely that travellers returning from the northern hemisphere are bringing flu home with them," Dr Sheppeard said.
"Unusually high levels of influenza activity are being seen in most states and territories, with the national reporting rate more than three times the average for this time of year."
In contrast, NSW flu cases reported last winter were the lowest recorded since 2013.