Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has been confirmed to be present in more than 200,000 people globally, resulting in more than 8,000 deaths. Health experts are struggling to cope with the ongoing pandemic, and a “perfect storm” of illness could be in storm for humanity this year.
When the annual flu swings around, usually towards October and November for the northern hemisphere, the most vulnerable people will be seriously at risk, one doctor has warned.
As such, the unnamed doctor who spoke to Australian outlet news.com.au, urged the likes of pregnant women, the elderly and people with existing health conditions to get vaccinated against the flu as quickly as possible.
The doctor told news.com.au: “It would be the perfect storm for some patients.
“You wouldn’t want to be pregnant and get both [coronavirus and the flu]. You would be very, very ill.
“Not would you want to be someone with an existing health problem, or just elderly.
“It would be significant for any person to have both, but dangerous for those people in the community.
“As soon as the vaccine is available, my advice would be go straight out and be immunised.
“It’s not going to stop you getting COVID-19, but you don’t want to be susceptible to both viruses.”
Influenza can lead to thousands of deaths a year, with the University of Oxford stating that in 2008-2009, there were 13,000 deaths in the UK alone related to the flu.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that an average of up to 500,000 people die annually across the globe due to the flu.
Since October alone, 20,000 people died from flu complications in the US.
Estimates vary massively on how many people could die from COVID-19, simply due to the fact that not enough is known about it yet with the situation constantly evolving in these unprecedented times.
However, the Government has conceded that 20,000 Britons could die from the respiratory disease.
Around the world, total confirmed coronavirus cases have now surpassed 200,000 – impacting more than 100 countries.
The number of dead from the disease has also exceeded 8,000 with Europe now becoming the epicentre of the disease.
Deaths in Italy have now reached more than 2,500 as of Tuesday, March 18, marking the deadliest outbreak in Europe.
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