Covid-flu co-infection increases risk of death by 600%, study finds
Experts urge Brits to get influenza jab to avoid ‘serious outcomes’
People infected with both flu and coronavirus have a sixfold increased risk of death compared with the general population, new research has found.
And patients battling both viruses at the same time are twice as likely to die as those with Covid-19 alone, according to the Public Health England (PHE) study.
The researchers analysed data on almost 20,000 people who were tested for both Covid and influenza between 20 January and 25 April. A total of 58 of those tested were positive for both viruses.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Overall, 43% of people with co-infection died, compared with 27% of those who only had the coronavirus. “Most cases of co-infection were in older people and more than half of them,” the study says.
The findings have prompted experts to warn Britons of all ages to “not be complacent” about influenza, reports ITV News.
“Flu usually kills about 11,000 people a year in England and many more are hospitalised,” adds Sky News. “Officials have warned that both influenza and Covid-19 could be circulating at the same time, and are urging people who are eligible to get a flu vaccine.”
England’s influenza vaccine programme has been expanded to cover up to 30 million people, including primary school children, anyone aged 65 or over, people with long-term health conditions, and pregnant women.
Calling on these groups to get the jab, “particularly with the winter we’re going to face”, PHE medical director Professor Yvonne Doyle said: “People still think that the flu is just like a cold. It’s not. The flu is an extremely unpleasant condition.”
People who get both flu and Covid “are in serious trouble”, she added. “The people who are most likely to get both of these infections may be the very people who can least afford to in terms of their own immune system or their risk for serious outcomes.”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs.
Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.
-
6 queer poets to read whenever but especially now
The Week Recommends April is National Poetry Month
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
How women's pain is often ignored in health care
the explainer The gap in care is especially glaring compared to how men are treated
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
6 serene homes in Vermont
Features Featuring a four-level Shaker barn in Hartland and a Scandinavian-inspired home in Stowe
By The Week US Published
-
Covid four years on: have we got over the pandemic?
Today's Big Question Brits suffering from both lockdown nostalgia and collective trauma that refuses to go away
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The hollow classroom
Opinion Remote school let kids down. It will take much more than extra tutoring for kids to recover.
By Mark Gimein Published
-
Martha's Rule: patients given right to urgent second opinion
The Explainer Hospitals in England will launch new scheme that will allow access to a rapid treatment review
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
The contaminated blood scandal
The Explainer Widely regarded as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, the public inquiry is due to publish its report in May
By The Week UK Published
-
Can Britain's dental crisis be fixed?
The Explainer New proposals include more money for dentists working in under-served areas
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Excess screen time is making children only see what is in front of them
Under the radar The future is looking blurry. And very nearsighted.
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Covid-19: what to know about UK's new Juno and Pirola variants
in depth Rapidly spreading new JN.1 strain is 'yet another reminder that the pandemic is far from over'
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Long-term respiratory illness is here to stay
The Explainer Covid is not the only disease with a long version
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published