Five dead from flu in one week in WA

Five people have died from a flu-related illness in Western Australia last week, taking the state's toll to 41 for the year so far.

Western Australia has recorded 41 flu-related deaths this year compared to four at the same time last year.

That includes five deaths last week, the WA Health Department says.

According to the latest figures released on Tuesday, there have been 15,214 laboratory-confirmed infections so far this year, which is a huge spike from 1654 at this time last year.

There have been 1711 hospitalisations compared to 313 for the same period last year.

The flu season began this year about two months earlier than in previous years.