IN 2017/18, 26,408 people died of flu in England alone.

Six of those were up to four years old, two were aged five to 14 and 1,462 were aged from 15 to 64.

The other 22,237 people who died from flu were 65 or older.

In the same period, the total 'excess winter deaths' in England and Wales, i.e. the approximately number of deaths in December, January, February and March that would not have happened in the summer, was 50,100.

Of those, 34.7 per cent (17,384) were caused by respiratory diseases like colds and flu.

That's roughly 144 a day.

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases such as the common cold.

COVID-19 is one type of coronavirus which, for the vast majority of people, is like having a flu or cold.

Older people will be more vulnerable – as they are to flus and colds.

Today it was confirmed that two of Oxfordshire's 680,000 residents had been diagnosed with this cold-like virus.

It was also confirmed that one person in this country, an 'older patient' with underlying health problems died after catching the virus.

This is the top story on many UK news websites tonight.

There are no headlines about the approximately 144 other people who died today from cold-like viruses.

At the Oxford Mail, we have reported on the public announcement put out by Oxfordshire County Council and Public Health England this afternoon on the two cases of COVID-19 in Oxfordshire.

We have also reported some of the limited health advice which those authorities gave along with their statements.

We hope our readers find this information useful and interesting.

For full guidance on what COVID-19 is, how dangerous it is, and what precautions should be taken against catching it, we trust our intelligent readers to go to this country's excellent National Health Service.

See https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19