Since the start of the pandemic we have seen a near 30-fold decline in the case-fatality rate from COVID-19. That decline is from vaccines, better treatments, and the change in variants. The graph below is from our article in TheConversation on Australia’s COVID numbers and shows
(a) most COVID cases/deaths (>90%) have been in 2022
(b) the case fatality rate dropped from 3% to near 0.1%
(c) that fatality rate is getting close to influenza’s (usually quoted as 0.1% but varies with seasons and method of calculation).
The total COVID-19 death count is much higher than influenza though because the omicron waves have been so highly transmissible – at least a 1/3 Australians have been infected so far in 2022. The current BA5 wave’s hospitalizations are near the January peak, and so the death rate is likely to follow that also.
Vaccination has greatly reduced the impact of the pandemic, but it is still far from over.
Healthy Evidence 