The extreme steps taken by the Chinese government (which can be assumed to have the most accurate -classified - data), belies that belief. You don't shut down so much of your country over a somewhat more severe case of flu.
a) a faster spreading version of flu, which produces a greater overall quantity of severe cases, could be mistaken for a more virulent flu... which is what I believe most reports are doing now
b) the unprecedented lock down is because of the origins of the virus
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202002.0051/v1
There are also other hints that line up with this. The mortality rate in the recent 1000+ case study seems to be much higher in males, but the rate of smoking in China is also much higher in males, which could be a clue.