Coronavirus nearly three times more deadly than flu: study
Sun Online Desk
19th December, 2020 01:09:01
Roughly a year into the pandemic it is clear the new coronavirus is worse than seasonal flu.
A study released on Friday outlined just how much worse, showing a death rate almost three times higher among Covid-19 patients.
The research, using French national data and published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, underscored the increased severity of illness for people with Covid-19.
Researchers compared data for 89,530 patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in March and April this year with 45,819 patients hospitalised with seasonal influenza between December 2018 and the end of February 2019.
Paris, Dec. 18, 2020 (dpa/Naija247news) The mortality rate among patients suffering from COVID-19 in hospitals in France is three times higher than among those with flu, according to a French study.
In spring, 16.9 per cent of patients died of those who were hospitalised with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, while 5.8 per cent of patients hospitalised with flu died in the winter of 2018-19.
However, patients may be receiving better treatment for the virus compared to at the outset of the pandemic.
“Our study shows that COVID-19 is far more serious than flu,” Catherine Quantin, who led the study at the University Hospital in Dijon, said in a statement.
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The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID19, the illness caused by the virus.
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COVID-19 far more deadly than seasonal flu
COVID-19 is three times more deadly than seasonal influenza, according to researchers in France who compared 89,530 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 early this year with 45,819 patients hospitalized with flu between December 2018 and February 2019. The death rate was 16.9% vs 5.8%, which is ”particularly striking when reminded that the 2018/2019 flu season had been the worst in the past five years in France in terms of number of
This compares to a death rate of 5.8% among those with influenza.
Medical staffers work in the ICU of the Bassini Hospital, in Cinisello Balsamo, near Milan, Italy, April 14, 2020. (Claudio Furlan/LaPresse via AP)
Catherine Quantin, a professor at the University Hospital of Dijon and the French national health institute INSERM who jointly led the study, said the difference in death rates was “particularly striking” given the 2018-2019 flu season was the deadliest France had seen in five years.
The authors note that the difference in the number of hospitalizations which saw twice as many people admitted for COVID-19 than flu may be partly explained by existing immunity to influenza, either because of previous infection or vaccination.
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine: COVID-19 causes more severe disease than seasonal influenza, comparison of data from over 130,000 hospitalised patients confirms
Peer-reviewed / Observational / People
Study based on French national data from 89,530 patients hospitalised with COVID-19 between 1 March and 30 April 2020 and 45,819 patients hospitalised with seasonal influenza between 1 December 2018 - 28 February 2019.
Death rate among hospitalised COVID-19 patients was three times higher than seasonal influenza (15,104/89,530 [16.9%] vs influenza 2640/45,819 [5.8%]).
More patients with COVID-19 required intensive care (14,585/89,530 [16.3%] vs influenza, 4926/45,819 [10.8%]) and the average stay in ICU with COVID-19 was nearly twice as long (15 days vs 8 days)
Fewer children aged under 18 years were hospitalised with COVID-19 compared with seasonal influenza (1227/89,530 [1.4%] vs 8942/45,819 [19.5%]), but a larger proportion of those aged under 5 years required intensive ca