Epidemic assessment of incidence of influenza against background of coronavirus infection pandemic in Sverdlovsk Region (2019–2021)

Abstract

On March 11, 2020, WHO stated a pandemic of coronavirus infection caused by the SARS-CoV‑2 virus with an aerogenic mechanism of transmission of the pathogen. With epidemic increases in the incidence of influenza and SARS registered annually in the world, the involvement of a new coronavirus in the epidemic process may exacerbate the situation. In the presented work, an assessment of the epidemiological situation of influenza in the Sverdlovsk region is given. Studies have shown that the excess of the epidemic threshold and the increase in the total incidence of respiratory infections can be explained by the presence of laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID‑19 in mild form. The epidemic process mainly involved the older age group of the population (15+ years). In the last epidseason, influenza A(H1N 1) pdm09 and A(H3N 2) viruses stopped circulating, and influenza B virus accounted for only 0.2 %.