Several people have been admitted to hospital as influenza hits Canberra workplaces, schools and nursing homes.
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ACT chief health officer Paul Kelly said there had been 72 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza in the ACT since the beginning of the year.
"More than half of those have been notified since the beginning of this month," he said.
Dr Kelly said some patients had been admitted to hospital and cases had been detected in two residential aged care homes.
He urged people identified as being at high-risk of complications from the flu to be vaccinated
"That includes people over the age of 65, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people over 15, pregnant women and anyone over six months of age with an underlying medical condition that predisposes them to the risk of complications from influenza," Dr Kelly said.
"That includes people with chronic heart and other chronic diseases."
Vaccination is free for people in identified at-risk groups but can also be accessed by other people who wish to reduce their risk of becoming ill with the flu.
Initial data suggested that HINI swine flu appeared to be declining as a proportion of total flu cases.
"The swine flu strain from a couple of years ago - H1NI - seems to be decreasing as a proportion and another A-strain - the H3N2 strain at the moment at least seems to be increasing," Dr Kelly said.
People with flu-like symptoms were urged to stay away from work or school and to practice good personal hygiene to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to others.
"Flu is very contagious so people should be reminded that if they do have symptoms of flu to not soldier on," Dr Kelly said.
"It's best not to soldier on and to help their own health as well as decrease the risk too others. And if you are coughing and sneezing, cover your nose and mouth, dispose of used tissues into the bin and wash your hands regularly."
The seasonal outbreak of flu has coincided with the release of new estimates on the number of people who died from swine flu during the 2009/10 pandemic.
Internationally, there were 18,500 laboratory confirmed deaths from swine flu, including 191 in Australia.
The pandemic placed severe strain on Australian hospital intensive care units.
A study by published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases this week estimated that the actual global death toll was between 151,00 and 575,000 people.
About 80 per cent of the people who died were aged under 65 years, unlike seasonal flu which is more likely to prove fatal in the elderly.
Lead author Fatimah Dawood, of the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the study underscored the significant human toll of an influenza pandemic.
"We hope that this work can be used not only to improve influenza disease burden modelling globally, but to improve the public health response during future pandemics in parts of the world that suffer more deaths, and to increase the public's awareness of the importance of influenza prevention," Dr Dawood said.
