By: Syeda Malaika Sohail
The coronavirus, which spreads from the Chinese city of Wuhan, has attracted worldwide attention, and in the very beginning many countries have cut off or restricted contact with China.
According to the information received from government of Pakistan’s covid-19 desk till 15th November 2020, only in Pakistan more than 356,904 corona virus confirmed cases whereas death rate in Pakistan is 2.0% of overall cases . However, according to WHO website total 53,507,282 confirmed cases all over the world, 10,641,431 cases were reported only in USA till 15th November 2020.
Do you know there are various territories where there is not even a single Covid-19 case including American Samoa, Cook Islands, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kiribat, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkmenistan and Tuvalu. When we look into the evidence that shows that the virus is not as dangerous as the fear it poses.
On the one hand, this fear has been aroused by the novels and films in which only a select few people around the world have escaped the mock epidemics, also simply because the storyteller had to go ahead and work with them. For example, the drama series “Last Man on Earth ” suggests that only one person in the world survives a seemingly global pandemic, which roams all over the United States. That no one else is left and no one finds him.
When we look into past history also tells us that there have been many instances in the past where terrible epidemics have devastated the human population on a large scale and the current Corona virus epidemic is nothing compared to them. I would like to draw your attention towards ten most terrible epidemics that have spread in the past that have devastated large parts of the world. I am starting from the mildest epidemic and moving towards the most terrible one. Meningitis (deaths 1.5 Million) The epidemic, which lasted from 1915 to 1926, was caused by a germ that invades the brain. The disease can be considered a form of meningitis and causes severe drowsiness in the patient. Disease Is severe then patient remains in coma?Asian flu (deaths: 2 million)
From 1957 to 1958, there was flu from China that spread all over the world. Some experts believed that the virus was transmitted from duck to human beings. The epidemic killed nearly 2 million people, including 70,000 in the United States alone.
Iranian plague (deaths: More than 2 million) The plague has been rising from time to time, but in 1772 a terrible epidemic broke out in Iran. At that time there was no cure for this insidious disease which caused the whole country to be engulfed.The plague of Antonine (deaths: 5 million to 10 million) This terrible disease spread at a time when the Roman Empire was at its height. The epidemic which lasted from 165 to 180 AD, ruined much of Europe. The famous Hakeem Jalinoos went through the same period and described the details of the disease, but it was not clear what the disease was, and both measles and smallpox are named in this connection. Cocoliztli
The epidemic also occurred in Mexico, but about 30 years before Cocoliztli 2, and for the same reason, the indigenous peoples of the Americas were not immune to European germs. But this plague brought more doomsday than any other and killed 5 million to 1.5 million people. These figures are appalling given the fact that at that time the population was much smaller than it is today and one can imagine how it would have left the whole country barren.Cocoliztli 2: When Spanish adventurers invaded the Americas, it was a terrible tragedy in human history. The bodies of the local population lacked any resistance to European germs, so their settlements were devastated. The tragedy occurred in Mexico between 1576 and 1580, in which 2 million to 2.5 million people were killed. It is not clear what the actual disease was, but patients had a high fever, and blood flowed from different parts of the body. Justinianic Plague This is the first major outbreak of the plague between 541 and 542. Within two years, the epidemic swept through the Byzantine empire and it’s neighbouring Iranian empires. The course of history was changed because the effect of epidemic were so severe, according to the experts. The plague is said to have weakened these empires so much that a few decades later the Arabs were able to overthrow them with great ease. AIDS / HIV (deaths: 30 million) AIDS is a new disease whose virus was transmitted from chimpanzees to humans in West Africa and then spread to the rest of the world. The disease has hit Africa hardest, with more than 60 percent of the world’s cases coming from sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. As said by Dr. Amesh Adalja “this disease is the most chronic disease which cause deaths”, an infectious disease medical practitioner and front man for the Infectious Disease Society of America. An estimated 30 million people have died in the early 1980s. Marburg virus This virus effected humans on various parts of words in the years of 1967, 1998-2000, and 2005 which was Originated in monkeys. The effects of this virus were high fevers and bleeding throughout the body and after that may lead to shock, organ failure and death.Spanish flu The epidemic spread at a time when the world was still in the throes of World War I, 1918-1920. At that time, the world’s population was close to 2.5 billion, while the Spanish flu affected almost one in four people. The deaths from flu were hidden in most parts of Europe, due to the war situation at that time, since Spain was not involved in the war and the news of major deaths from there, gave the impression that the disease Spain in particular is targeted. The flu is usually more deadly to children and the elderly, but the Spanish flu has killed young people in particular.Black Death Never before in human history has there been such a tragedy, this plague of plague from 1347 to 1351 affected the world so much that it is said that if this plague had not occurred, the map of the world would be different today. According to experts, the plague spread from East Asia to the Middle East via trade routes and then to Europe, where it killed 30 to 60 percent of the population. The devastation was so terrible that there was no one left to bury the dead in the whole city.Due to the effects of this epidemic, for the first time in history, the world’s total population decreased and it took the world two hundred years to reach this level of population again.The Ebola virus That spread in West Africa from 2013 to 2016 killed 11,300 people, making it the deadliest epidemic of the century so far. It causes contact with blood or other body fluids, or tissue from infected people or animals. It was first occurred in 1976 .Not only the above mentioned viruses but dengue first occurred in 1950s by mosquitoes bite, Rotavirus a type of diarrheal illness among babies and young children are also deadly viruses but we do not consider them as deadly as Covid-19 now a days.
I want to share my feelings that I don’t know if all this is a part of bio war, population control strategy or something else. No one knows if he/she will survive or not……. But this is a game of spreading fear.
At the end I would say that COVID-19 is a deadly virus now a days as it has caused a number of deaths and a number of people are still struggling from it. There is no medication or vaccine made to overcome this virus. The second phase of COVID-19 has been started and people are stressed that what would happen if this death-dealing virus break the figure of all deadly viruses.