With influenza patients around the country now more than triple last year's numbers, health authorities are bracing for a seasonal epidemic comparable to the worst ones seen in the past decade.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA),13-point-six out of every one-thousand outpatients between October 19 and 25 were suspected flu cases, three and a half times more than three-point-nine recorded during the same period of last year.

The viral detection rate during the period reached eleven-point-six percent, up four-point-three percentage points from a week earlier.

Ninety-eight influenza patients were hospitalized at 221 medical facilities, compared to 13 counted a year ago.

The KDCA projected that this year's flu outbreak would reach decade-high levels seen a year earlier and last longer, given higher case numbers reported in October and the current Southern Hemisphere epidemic.

Authorities advised seniors aged 65 and older, expectant mothers and children aged 6 months to 13 years to get vaccinated free of charge under the national vaccination program.