In a ‘stunning’ turn of events, the seasonal flu has completely disappeared from Australia, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed.
According to reports, the last Australian death officially attributed to influenza was recorded in July 2020, just over 12 months ago. We have also seen no hospitalisations since April 2021
For context, there were 21,005 notifications of laboratory-confirmed influenza by this time in 2020, including 36 deaths.
In 2019, there had been 214,377 notifications and 486 deaths.
The absence of influenza in the community has been described as ‘amazing’ by ‘experts’.
Professor Ian Barr, Deputy Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Doherty Institute, commented on this news.
He is frank when asked if he ever imagined the current situation: “No. It’s amazing. Never!”
What a time — during a deadly pandemic — to achieve this incredible feat of science.
Something that the greatest minds of the past could not achieve for decades.
A disease that once ravaged Australia, has suddenly vanished.
Source – https://tottnews.com/2021/08/19/australia-year-since-last-flu-death/