As Coronavirus Death Toll Rises, Here’s a Look at the Deadliest Pandemics of Last Century

More than 90,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have come to light across the world as per the latest WHO figures. A staggering 88 per cent of these cases are from mainland China, epicentre of the outbreak. Followed by South Korea with 4,800 confirmed cases, Italy with over 2,000 confirmed cases and now, 21 confirmed cases of coronavirus in India. In total, the virus has spread to at least 73 countries killing over 3,000 people, reported Reuters.

Coronavirus outbreak has already become one of the deadliest epidemics in recent history.

Spanish Flu

Spanish Flu of 1918-19, a deadly influenza pandemic, infected nearly 500 million people globally — about 40 per cent of the world population at that time. It killed an estimated 50 million people. The flu originated in the United States and spread rapidly across continents. For several years, scientists were unable to ascertain the cause of deaths which made the Spanish Flu as deadly as it ended up being. Years later, in 2008, researchers claimed that a group of three genes allowed the virus to weaken the victim’s bronchial tubes, lungs and clear the way for bacterial pneumonia.

The pandemic that was first observed in the spring of 1918 ended by the summer of 1919.

Asian Flu

The second major influenza outbreak of the 20th century occurred in 1957 and was called the Asian Flu avian influenza pandemic of 1957. As it is obvious from its name, it first originated in Asia and spread to other countries, killing around two million people. The flu originated from a virus called H2N2.

Reports suggest that the flu outbreak came in two different waves with the first one affecting largely children while the second one affected the elderly. This time with scientific advancements, the medical community was able to identify the pandemic quickly.

Hong Kong Flu

Another deadly flu pandemic surfaced in Hong Kong in 1968 and lasted until 1969. An estimated 33,000 people died because of the Hong Kong flu which was sparked by the H3N2 strain. Even as no pandemics have come to light since the Hong Kong pandemic, there have been several pandemic threats in recent years with the most prominent of those being the avian flu (bird flu) in the late 1990s and swine flu in 2009.