How similar is coronavirus to flu?

The recent coronavirus outbreak is also a respiratory disease, much similar to the flu, which still claims thousands of lives each year. The seasonal flu kills around 0.1 per cent of patients as compared to two per cent of the 1918 flu strain, which had a huge fatality rate. But the more contagious coornavirus, is estimated to have the death rate at 1.4 per cent now based on 1,099 cases.

In both flu and coronavirus, the elderly, sick and immunocompromised people have greater chances of being infected but children infected with the new coronavirus tend to have mild or no symptoms.

Source: Geo