This BBC News piece equates COVID & influenza. It quotes @PHE wrong data. As a result, @nicktriggle is misled into saying, "But it is easy to forget that flu can also kill on quite a scale. Back in 2017-18, more than 20,000 people died from it." Wrong! 1/3 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55985916
Covid: Why goal is to live with the virus - not fight it

Ministers want to turn Covid-19 into a manageable illness like flu. Why? And is this possible?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55985916
In 2018 1,596 people died from influenza & in 2019 1,213. But @PHE have combined deaths from influenza and pneumonia and badged them all as 'flu. The vast majority are always from pneumonia, not 'flu - even in years when flu deaths are higher than normal. @nicktriggle 2/3
Pneumonia categories include bacterial pneumonia such as Streptococcal & Haemophillus pneumonia - but most cases are 'organism unspecified'. The official data from @ONS should be used, not spurious data that is used to support false equivalence between COVID and 'flu @NickTriggle
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