With global attention on the Wuhan coronavirus and its spread around China and other countries, it’s important to put it in the context of other deadly infections, including seasonal influenza, which claims the lives of thousands of people every year.

According to a September 2019 study by Chinese scientists published in The Lancet, there are an average of around 88,100 influenza-related deaths every year in China, with a mortality rate of between 1.6% and 2.6%. The majority of those who died as a result of the flu were aged over 60, the report said.

While the true extent of the new coronavirus is unclear, it appears to be more deadly than seasonal influenza. Of the 1,317 cases confirmed globally as of noon Saturday in China, there have been 41 deaths, a mortality rate of 3.1%.

However, that is far less deadly than related coronaviruses SARS and MERS. SARS has a mortality rate of around 10%, while MERS has killed 34% of those infected with that virus.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that this flu season — from October 1, 2019 until January 18 — 15 to 21 million people have contracted the flu in the United States, killing somewhere between 8,200 to 20,000 people.

Those numbers are based on the CDC’s weekly influenza surveillance reports, which summarize key influenza activity indicators.