The spread of dangerous misinformation has paralleled the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Indeed, the term ‘infodemic’ has been coined to describe this spread of misinformation, which has the severe consequence of hampering public health interventions aimed at controlling the virus pandemic.

Whilst both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza are respiratory viruses, they are completely unrelated pathogens.

COVID-19 symptoms appear two to 14 days after infection, whilst flu symptoms usually appear one to four days after infection. Hospitalised patients with COVID-19 develop more severe lung injury and respiratory complications when compared to patients with seasonal flu.

Patients severely affected with COVID-19 are more likely to need intensive care and the length of stay at intensive care units is also twice as long as patients with severe seasonal flu.

A study in France also showed that the number of in-hospital deaths due to COVID-19 were three times higher than deaths caused by seasonal flu. Current evidence shows that COVID-19 is indeed more serious than seasonal influenza.