OREANDA-NEWS. An abnormally warm winter caused mild clinical course of influenza in older Italians this year, but later they encountered problems with an outbreak of coronavirus. This is stated in the report by the Italian Ministry of Health published in the Journal of the Italian Association of Epidemiologists.

Association experts concluded that the easy flu epidemic in November–January caused high mortality from coronavirus later. According to statistics, about 8 thousand people die from influenza in Italy every year, but this year this figure was lower. It is noted that in the northern regions of the country, mortality was 6 % lower than average, and in the center and south it was 3 % lower. As a result, older people, who were at risk during the flu epidemic, showed higher mortality during the coronavirus outbreak.