The FluTracking program is a national public health initiative that conducts an online survey of more than 20,000 Australians weekly to report symptoms of coughing and fever. Using this information, researchers can determine the onset of the flu season by region, severity of influenza strains and the effectiveness of current vaccines.

Here, you can see weekly updates on the flu situation, with the graph showing the percentage of participants who experience a cough and a fever in the past week compared against a five-year average.

The map shows the percentage of participants reporting the same symptoms by postcode, where there were 10 or more participants. Use the slider to change the weeks shown.

You can join the FluTracking survey here.