Australia has endured one of its deadliest flu seasons on record, with new official figures showing influenza claimed more lives than COVID-19 during the winter peak.
A Grim Toll: Flu Deaths Surge Past COVID
Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirms a sobering shift. Between August and November this year, 705 deaths involved influenza, compared to 448 involving COVID-19. This marks a significant moment where flu has overtaken COVID as the more lethal respiratory virus during its seasonal peak.
The cumulative figures for 2025 are stark. Up to November, a total of 1508 influenza-related deaths were recorded nationally. This dwarfs the 1045 deaths for all of 2024 and 611 in 2023, indicating a severe and escalating trend.
Contrasting Trends and Vulnerabilities
While flu deaths have climbed, fatalities linked to COVID-19 have been on a steady decline. Deaths fell from 6190 in 2023 to 5106 last year, and down to 2075 by November this year. November 2025 saw just 26 COVID deaths, the lowest number since the pandemic peak in September 2021.
The data also reveals a difference in vulnerability between the sexes. Women were found to be more susceptible to influenza, while men were more vulnerable to COVID-19. The winter COVID peak was noted as being smaller than in previous years, a change attributed to higher community resilience from both vaccination and prior infections.
Western Australia's Post-Season Struggle
The challenge is not over, particularly in Western Australia. The state recorded 110 flu deaths this season. Alarmingly, flu activity has picked up again beyond the traditional winter period.
WA Health’s latest Virus Watch report shows a 36 per cent jump in reported cases in early December, taking the total to 573 and pushing numbers above the seasonal average. This late surge is occurring as vaccination rates in WA sit below the national average across most age groups.
In October, the Royal College of General Practitioners sounded the alarm over falling vaccination rates, coinciding with a then-record 410,000 lab-confirmed flu cases. Two months later, national cases have climbed to nearly half a million.
RACGP president Dr Michael Wright said the record figures must serve as a national wake-up call. "This is not a record we want to be breaking, we must boost vaccination rates and reverse this trend," he urged. "Getting vaccinated not only helps keep yourself as safe as possible, but also your friends and family members."
The ABS data confirms that October 2025 saw notably high flu-linked deaths, consistently exceeding even the severe 2019 season. For most of the period from 2023 to 2025, COVID-19 had been the leading cause of death from acute respiratory infections, a position now challenged by influenza's fierce resurgence.
