For thousands of Zimbabweans, this year’s flu season is no longer a few days of coughing and sneezing, with residents reporting weeks of weakness, fever, body pains and intense coughing as weekly influenza cases climb to between 10 000 and 12 000.

“I can attest that, in my entire life, I have never had this kind of flu. You sneeze, urine says, ‘Here I am,’ even when you are not pressed. You are even weak to the core,” said Shylet Moyo, who spent two weeks bedridden and tried steaming, honey, lemon, ginger, cinnamon, Flumed, Stopain, Grandpa and Disprin.

Moyo said the illness was so severe that she initially suspected she could have COVID-19 or hantavirus, although she said there were no rodents where she lived.

For Simon Siyapi, the problem has been the illness’s ability to disappear and return with greater intensity.

“We had this three weeks back. It goes and comes. Then it returns with a bang. Sometimes you would shiver, have a fever, aching joints and cry. It’s spread fast; even ‘tea’ is weak in front of it,” Siyapi said.

Claudette Ndiweni said the illness disrupted her working life, forcing her to stay away from work for an entire week because of an intense cough.

“I spent one full week away from work. It was an intense cough and then I recalled COVID days,” Ndiweni said.

She said she relied on warm fluids, lemon, ginger and garlic, as well as ash from a hardwood tree known as umstwiiri, during her recovery.

“Heavy strain, but people are dying,” said Patience Tsikada.

Patience Parehwa said she was still recovering four weeks after falling ill.

“I’m still recovering. It has been four good weeks. Worse than COVID,” she said.

Mary Chibanda said the illness had also affected her cousin, who required hospital treatment after fainting.

“My cousin was also complaining about this flu. She was even admitted to the hospital after she fainted,” Chibanda said.

The personal accounts come as Zimbabwe experiences an unusual late-season influenza peak, with weekly cases rising sharply from the usual 1 000 to 2 500 range to between 10 000 and 12 000.

According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care, cases started increasing around March, rising to between 5 000 and 6 000 per week before exceeding 10 000 over the past three weeks.

The figures remain below the more than 20 000 cases recorded in a single week in mid-July 2025.

Residents said the illness was keeping them away from work and leaving some to recover for weeks.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Aspect Maunganidze, said the unusual feature this year was the timing of the peak rather than the severity of the outbreak.

“The Ministry wishes to reassure the public once again that the current increase in influenza activity remains within the expected seasonal pattern, although the peak has now occurred in August. There is no cause for panic,” he said.

The late peak has coincided with a prolonged cold spell, creating conditions in which more people are reporting influenza-like symptoms at a time when the country would normally be moving beyond its winter peak.

The Ministry’s figures show that the current increase is significant but remains below last year’s recorded weekly high.

For residents such as Moyo, however, the impact is being measured less in weekly statistics and more in days spent in bed, missed work and prolonged recovery.

“I have never had this kind of flu,” she said.