Amidst the escalating outbreak of the new coronavirus from Wuhan, China, some netizens believe that plagues throughout history starting from the 1720 plague, holds a pattern.
However, did history truly repeat itself? The theory goes like this:
1720 – The Great Plague of Marseille – this was the last significant European outbreak of the bubonic plague. It killed a total of 100,000 people in the city of Marseille, France.
1820 – The First Cholera Pandemic – By 1820, cholera had spread to Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. On the island of Java alone, the outbreak caused the death of 100,000 people.
1920 – The Spanish Flu – In 1918-1920, the world was faced with the influenza pandemic. It would be the first of two pandemics to involve the H1N1 influenza virus.
2020- Coronavirus- The rapid spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 has sparked alarm worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared this rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, and many countries are grappling with a rise in confirmed cases.
COVID-19 basics:
What are the symptoms of COVID-19?
Some people infected with the virus have no symptoms. When the virus does cause symptoms, common ones include low-grade fever, body aches, coughing, nasal congestion, runny nose, and sore throat. However, COVID-19 can occasionally cause more severe symptoms like high fever, severe cough, and shortness of breath, which often indicates pneumonia.
How long is it between when a person is exposed to the virus and when they start showing symptoms?
Because this coronavirus has just been discovered, the time from exposure to symptom onset (known as the incubation period) for most people has yet to be determined. Based on current information, symptoms could appear as soon as three days after exposure to as long as 13 days later. Recently published research found that on average, the incubation period is about five days.
How does coronavirus spread?
The coronavirus is thought to spread mainly from person to person. This can happen between people who are in close contact with one another. Droplets that are produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes may land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby, or possibly be inhaled into their lungs.
Coronavirus can also spread from contact with infected surfaces or objects. For example, a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes.
How deadly is COVID-19?
The answer depends on whether you’re looking at the fatality rate (the risk of death among those who are infected) or the total number of deaths. So far, influenza has caused far more deaths this flu season worldwide, than COVID-19. This is why you may have heard it said that the flu is a bigger threat.
Regarding the fatality rate, it appears that the risk of death with the pandemic coronavirus infection (commonly estimated at 3% to 4%) is less than it was for SARS (approximately 11%) and MERS (about 35%), but may be higher than the risk from seasonal flu (which averages about 0.1%).