Worldwide this was not the case. There should have been some influenza outbreaks sweeping countries that didn't lock down. Even one country bucking the trend should generate at least a third of a percent of the trending influenza numbers.
Also, if those numbers are true, the next year's influenza numbers should be low as it takes some time for multiple zoonotic strains to get going once human behaviors return to normal.
I'm certain this will play out for most of Africa, but let's stick to a developed country with strong monitoring and an average age comparable to the countries included in these stats.
From the Sweden report:
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the surveillance and transmission of influenza in Sweden during the 2020-2021 influenza surveillance season.
Sweden saw changes to healthcare seeking and testing behaviour and increased calls to medical advice lines. Measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 both nationally and globally contributed to a reduction in the transmission of influenza in most countries of the Northern hemisphere to a very low level during the season, as in most of the rest of the world.
In Sweden, measures included social distancing, testing and tracing of cases, travel restrictions, changes in sick leave policies and advice to stay home if symptomatic, advice to work from home if possible, distance learning for high schools and universities, restrictions in opening hours and capacity of restaurants and bars, and more.
Globally, very low influenza activity was reported by WHO (4). A sharp reduction in travel meant that influenza was only sporadically introduced to Sweden and the rest of Europe from countries with ongoing transmission.
*This is not difficult to source from reports put out after the hysteria died down and people's reputations weren't being shot against the wall for contradicting the epidemiological narrative.
The CBC article you reference doesn't mention influenza - OP's topic - but it does point out that as of Feb 25, 2022 "More than 17,000 people have died from or with COVID-19 in Sweden, far more per capita than among Nordic neighbours". It looks like allowing milder pandemic control measures raised their death toll.
Worldwide this was not the case. There should have been some influenza outbreaks sweeping countries that didn't lock down. Even one country bucking the trend should generate at least a third of a percent of the trending influenza numbers.
Also, if those numbers are true, the next year's influenza numbers should be low as it takes some time for multiple zoonotic strains to get going once human behaviors return to normal.
Got any links?
https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/publikationer-och-material/publikationsarkiv/i/influenza-in-sweden-season-2020-2021/?pub=99545
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/sweden-report-coronavirus-1.6364154#:~:text=Sweden%20polarized%20opinion%20at%20home,social%20distancing%20and%20good%20hygiene.
I'm certain this will play out for most of Africa, but let's stick to a developed country with strong monitoring and an average age comparable to the countries included in these stats.
From the Sweden report: Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the surveillance and transmission of influenza in Sweden during the 2020-2021 influenza surveillance season.
Sweden saw changes to healthcare seeking and testing behaviour and increased calls to medical advice lines. Measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 both nationally and globally contributed to a reduction in the transmission of influenza in most countries of the Northern hemisphere to a very low level during the season, as in most of the rest of the world.
In Sweden, measures included social distancing, testing and tracing of cases, travel restrictions, changes in sick leave policies and advice to stay home if symptomatic, advice to work from home if possible, distance learning for high schools and universities, restrictions in opening hours and capacity of restaurants and bars, and more.
Globally, very low influenza activity was reported by WHO (4). A sharp reduction in travel meant that influenza was only sporadically introduced to Sweden and the rest of Europe from countries with ongoing transmission.
There were changes to healthcare seeking and testing behaviour. The WHO was interested in COVID-19 cases above all else and the PCR cycle thresholds were greater than the low 20s which is considered inaccurate by virtually anyone with a molecular biology credential. See that the guideline was set too high: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367964900_CORRELATION_BETWEEN_RT-PCR_CYCLE_THRESHOLD_COVID-19_EPIDEMIC_SPREADING_AND_INFECTIOUS_DISEASE_SEVERITY_SCORES
*This is not difficult to source from reports put out after the hysteria died down and people's reputations weren't being shot against the wall for contradicting the epidemiological narrative.
As far as I can tell we are in agreement. Your web page from Sweden says "Measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 both nationally and globally contributed to a reduction in the transmission of influenza, while a sharp reduction in travel has also meant that influenza was only sporadically introduced to Sweden and the rest of Europe from countries with ongoing transmission."
The CBC article you reference doesn't mention influenza - OP's topic - but it does point out that as of Feb 25, 2022 "More than 17,000 people have died from or with COVID-19 in Sweden, far more per capita than among Nordic neighbours". It looks like allowing milder pandemic control measures raised their death toll.
That's certainly the case in comparison to Canada: as of April 13 2024, for every 4 covid deaths in Canada there were 7 in Sweden.