New Delhi: Death rate among Covid-19 patients in a two-month period this year was nearly three times higher than those who suffered from flu during the peak influenza season in 2018-19, a study from France that was published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal Friday has found.
The study also noted that nearly twice the number of people were admitted to hospital with Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic, than with influenza in 2018-19.
For the study, researchers compared 89,530 hospitalised Covid-19 patients in France over a two-month period during spring, with 45,819 admitted for influenza over a three-month time during the seasonal flu outbreak of 2018-19.
Among those studied, 15,104 (16.9 per cent) Covid-19 patients died as opposed to 2,640 (5.8 per cent) deaths among the influenza patients. Over 16 per cent Covid-19 patients also experienced severe illness, requiring intensive care, compared to 10.8 per cent of those who suffered from influenza.
“Our study is the largest to date to compare the two diseases and confirms that Covid-19 is far more serious than the flu. The finding that the Covid-19 death rate was three times higher than for seasonal influenza 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 deaths,” Catherine Quantin, from the Dijon University Hospital in France, said in a statement.
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‘Covid-19 is far more serious than the flu’
The new Lancet study also provides evidence to dispel claims that the novel coronavirus was not as deadly as it was meant out to be. US President Donald Trump was among those who had repeatedly downplayed the threat posed by Covid-19, saying it was far less lethal than the influenza virus.
In a tweet in October, Trump wrote: “Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!”
His post was later taken down by Facebook, and hidden by Twitter.
The new study also pointed out that people have a degree of immunity to influenza, either as a result of previous infection or vaccination, which is why the infection may lead to fewer cases of hospitalisation.
In contrast, Covid-19 is a new virus and very few people would be expected to have previous immunity against it. This is one of the reasons why more people are likely to be hospitalised for it.
‘1 in 4 Covid patients experienced acute respiratory failure’
The study also found that Covid-19 patients were twice as likely to require invasive mechanical ventilation during their hospital treatment, than those suffering from flu.
As much as 9.7 per cent Covid-19 patients required mechanical ventilation as opposed to just 4 per cent influenza sufferers. In addition, the average length of stay for Covid-19 patients in intensive care units was nearly twice as long when compared to seasonal influenza patients.
The average length of ICU stay was 15 days for Covid-19 patients, while it was eight days for flu sufferers.
The data also revealed that over one in four patients with Covid-19 experienced acute respiratory failure, where the lungs are unable to pump oxygen into the body, compared to less than one in five patients with influenza.
“Taken together, our findings clearly indicate that Covid-19 is much more serious than seasonal influenza. At a time when no treatment has been shown to be effective at preventing severe disease in Covid-19 patients, this study highlights the importance of all measures of physical prevention and underlines the importance of effective vaccines,” said Pascale Tubert-Bitter, research director at L’Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm).
Fewer children aged under 18 years were hospitalised with Covid-19, compared to flu, noted the study. But a larger proportion of Covid-19 patients who were under five years needed intensive care support, than those with influenza.
The death rate among hospitalised Covid-19 patients aged 11-17 years appeared to be 10 times higher compared to those with flu. However, the researchers also said that the numbers were too small to draw meaningful conclusions.
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The response is still completely out of proportion.