Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions Implemented to Control the COVID-19 Were Associated with Reduction of Influenza Incidence

BackgroundNon-pharmaceutical interventions were implemented in most countries to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. We aimed to describe the incidence of influenza in four countries in the 2019-2020 season and examined the effect of these non-pharmaceutical interventions on the incidence of influenza. MethodsWe used the network surveillance data from 2015 to 2020 to estimate the percentage increase in influenza cases to explore the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented to control the COVID-19 on the incidence of influenza in China, the United States, Japan, and Singapore. ResultsWe found that the incidence of influenza has been almost zero and reached a persistent near-zero level for a continuous period of six months since epidemiologic week 14 of 2020 in the four countries. Influenza incidence decreased by 77.71% and 60.50% in the early days of COVID-19 in the 2019-2020 season compared to the same period in preceding years in Japan and Singapore, respectively. Furthermore, influenza incidence decreased by 60.50-99.48% during the period of compulsory interventions in the 2019-2020 season compared to the same period in preceding years in the four countries. ConclusionThese findings suggest that the application of non-pharmaceutical interventions, even everyday preventive action, was associated with a reduction of influenza incidence, which highlights that more traditional public health interventions need to be reasserted and universalized to reduce influenza incidence.