[ad_1]
Several countries in the southern hemisphere have noted record levels of flu during the winter of this year, which may have saved thousands of lives, The Guardian reports. The New Zealand health system has not detected a single case of influenza since June.
The flu season has broken records in New Zealand and Australia. Stock Photography.
The spread of Covid in New Zealand is one of the lowest in the world and measures against the virus appear to have had an effect on the flu during the winter, which is now coming to an end in the southern hemisphere.
Auckland, the largest city in the country, saw the last flu fall in April.
– Is incredible. There is simply nothing at all. No flu, Michael Baker, professor of public health at the University of Otago in Wellington, tells the newspaper.
The trend extends to several southern countries. In Australia, more than 131,000 cases of influenza were recorded between July and August last year, according to official statistics. This year, the figure is 315.
– The falls have collapsed since March, Professor Ian Barr, of the WHO in Melbourne, tells The Guardian.
At the same time, the number of deaths from influenza has dropped from 950 to less than 40 and there have been no new deaths in the past three months, according to Barr.
Similar developments can be seen in South Africa and in South American countries, countries and regions hard hit by the coronavirus. Low flu numbers may give us hope in the North, facing our own flu season.
– You will still have a flu season, but I think it will be less intense. Countries in the Northern Hemisphere that are actively fighting COVID-19 to some degree should get a lot of protection (against the flu) by doing so, says Michael Baker.
