Australia has recorded 4,302 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including about 3,000 deaths during the Delta and Omicron waves.
The US-based Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation has forecast that the combined death toll from the two waves will top 4,000 by June. This is in line with the toll from the 2017 influenza outbreak, which is estimated to have claimed the lives of between 3,600 and 3,800 Australians.
Professor James Woods from the University of NSW says it is likely that COVID-19 will eventually be managed in the same way as flu, although he cautions that this will depend on the emergence of new variants.
