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Date Published: 05/01/2022

ARCHIVED - Numbers show that Omicron in Spain is less deadly than the flu

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The coronavirus variant has caused far fewer fatalities than the 2019 flu season in Spain

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Numbers show that Omicron in Spain is less deadly than the flu

While the Omicron variant has dominated the festive season and led to an exponential rise in coronavirus cases in Spain, it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, as while primary care facilities are under pressure, the increased cases aren’t wreaking the same havoc on hospitals that they did last year. This is because, while certainly more transmissible, Omicron simply isn’t causing the same severe symptoms or serious illnesses as previous strains, and fewer people are dying.

To this end, the experts believe that the sixth wave of the pandemic may be approaching its peak and they firmly expect it to abate with the same speed as which it arrived.

In fact, the latest research suggests that coronavirus is more similar to the flu virus than was once believed and has actually caused far fewer deaths in Spain than this common winter ailment.

According to figures from the Carlos III Health Institute, between November 26, the date on which the WHO declared Omicron as a variant of concern, and December 30, a total of 1,163,733 coronavirus infections were registered in Spain. This figure means that in just one month, the virus caused more than double the number of cases of the flu in 2019, when 490,000 illnesses were detected.

Despite this higher incidence of infections, in little more than 30 days Omicron has caused 1,450 deaths, just a quarter of the deaths (6,300) that were registered due to influenza in 2019.

In another parallel to the coronavirus pandemic, during the flu season of 2018/2019 it was found that only 54% of those over the age of 60 who were admitted to hospital had received the flu jab. The WHO has recently confirmed that the vast majority of people hospitalised or deceased as a result of Covid are unvaccinated.

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