Why this worlwide panic over the corona virus?

I do not understand this worlwide panic.
I looked up some official sites from the ministry of healhtcare here in the Netherlands about flu:
Please note that the Netherlands have 17 million inhabitants, compared to China's 1 billion, that is nothing...

Here in the Netherlands in 2018/19 2900 people probably died from the flu, while 400000 infected: here in the Netherlands alone... ( see screenshot from the Dutch ministry of health, below)
No panic on that one..
No locked cities, nothing.
In the news I see experts stating that this corona is less harmfull than Sars or Mers. The amount of infected people is minimal compared to the population of China, spreading rather quick indeed, but still minimal.
So why the panic?
The measures taken seem to be totally out of proportion, generating a worldwide panic as if this is as dangerous as the plague in the middle ages.
This gives thought that the authorities might know more than they tell us, many people will start to think...