-
The number of flu cases in England this winter has dropped to levels not seen in more than 130 years.
-
New data published by the Sunday Times shows that the incidence of flu is about 95% lower than normal.
-
Experts believe the cases are low due to ongoing restrictions on closure and measures for social distance.
-
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
As coronavirus cases continue to increase in England this winter, the number of people suffering from the flu has dropped to levels not seen in more than 130 years, experts told the Sunday Times.
According to medical experts, it appears that flu has been “almost completely eradicated” after figures dropped by a whopping 95%.
According to data obtained by the Times, the number of people reporting flu-like illnesses to their GPs was 1.1 per 100,000 people, compared with an average five-year rate of 27.
The data comes from the second week of January, which is usually the peak time of the flu season in which thousands of people are admitted to hospital.
The number of hospital admissions in England due to flu was zero from mid-January.
“I can not think of a year that it happened,” Simon de Lusignan, a professor of primary care at Oxford University, told the Times.
Read more: Coronavirus variants threaten to increase the progress of the pandemic. Here’s how 4 top vaccine fighters fight back.
John McCauley, director of the World Health Organization’s collaboration center in London, told the Times that the collapse of numbers was ‘unprecedented’.
But while this may be good news in general, some scientists are struggling to develop a vaccine for next year’s flu season, due to the few samples they now have to work on.
“It’s a nightmare to work out what comes next,” McCauley said. ‘If you have a flu for a year, your immunity will have decreased. It can come back worse. ‘
Experts have previously said that flu rates have been lower this year due to ongoing restrictions and social measures to give up.
The low influenza numbers in the country offer a clear difference to the cases of coronavirus.
About 4 million people have contracted the virus in the UK since the start of the pandemic and more than 105,000 have died, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
The country, which has been locked up for a third time since early January, has aggressively introduced vaccinations. According to a government website, more than 8 million people have already received their first dose.
Read the original article on Business Insider