Pandemic Measures Result in Fewer People Catching the Flu

In Australia, the number of seasonal flu cases have virtually disappeared since April 2020 due to the sanitary measures taken to contain the corona pandemic, most notably by closing the borders.

“The quarantine stations have been a bit of a godsend for us,” says Professor Ian Barr, deputy director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Doherty Institute. “The majority of [flu] viruses we’ve had this year in Australia have come through the quarantine station. So the viruses are coming in, but they’re just not getting out — or if they are getting out, they’re only getting out in very small numbers.”

According to a study, the Yamagata virus – one of four flu viruses that infect humans, and part of the influenza B group – has not been detected for 18 months. And the flu cases in Australia dropped drastically, from more than 300,000 cases and over 900 deaths in 2019, to merely 550 cases and no flu deaths reported so far in 2021. In Europe, China and the United States, cases have also declined over the past two years. COVID-19 forced people to social distance, to have a better hygiene and to wear masks, thus lowering flu levels.