Coronavirus is 10 times deadlier than seasonal flu (0.1% mortality rate), Dr. Anthony Fauci says

On March 9, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated coronavirus COVID-19  mortality rate at 3.4%, but the actual number turns out to be a lot lower. For example, coronavirus COVID-19  mortality rate in the United States is now at 1.4%

Does that mean coronavirus is not as deadly as we were told? Not necessarily. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the outbreak will get worse before its get better. He warned the U.S. must take serious mitigation efforts. Dr. Fauci said the coronavirus is 10 times deadlier than the seasonal flu, which has a 0.1 percent mortality rate.

Dr. Fauci told lawmakers that the novel coronavirus spreading across the globe is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu. “The flu has a mortality rate of 0.1 percent. This has a mortality rate of 10 times that. That’s the reason I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this,” Dr. Fauci noted. “I mean people always say, ‘Well, the flu does this, the flu does that.’”

To date, there are 422,829 confirmed cases of the deadly virus around the world with at least 18,907 deaths. In the U.S. alone, there 54,867 reported cases with at least 782 deaths. New York state has the highest deaths of 271.