Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt is urging Australians to seek vaccinations against the flu as the government prepares to release 6 million free influenza shots from mid-month.

The release is a roughly 17 per cent jump on last year’s and comes amid record numbers of confirmed cases.

Figures released by the Immunisation Coalition show there were more than 10,000 cases of flu in March, compared to about 3000 over the same month last year.

April is already the worst month on record, with 3092 cases in the first 11 days.

The virus has killed seven people in NSW this year.