Is COVID- 19 one of the Deadliest Pandemics the World has seen so far?

At several occasions, the World Health Organization (WHO) has elucidated upon the seriousness and deadliness of the COVID- 19 pandemic. The latest one came on Monday, when it said that the novel coronavirus is ten times more deadly than swine flu which caused a global pandemic in 2009. Swine flu pandemic, caused by an influenza virus affected around 74 countries and territories across the globe.  According to data released by WHO, COVID- 19 has killed 6.4 per cent of the people who have been tested positive whereas the swine flu killed, only, 1.1 percent of those it infected globally. 

The importance of enforcing control measures and the need to lift it slowly instead of rushing through the same, was also stressed upon. "We know that COVID-19 spreads fast, and we know that it is deadly, 10 times more deadly than the 2009 flu pandemic," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Chief, told in a virtual briefing from Geneva. When the pandemic crossed the 200,000 mark in march, he also called it an enemy against humanity.

According to data released by Johns Hopkins University, over 18.7 lakh patients have been infected and 1,16,098 have been killed globally, due to the pandemic. So far, India has reported over 9300 positive cases and caused 358 deaths. Ten states including Tamil Nadu have extended their Lockdown. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address to the nation today, announced extension of the nationwide Lockdown till 3rd of May. 

This announcement from WHO calls for nations to revisit their respective healthcare systems, control measures including lockdowns and Corona virus related policy decisions they have taken so far and replace them with stricter ones in order to control the spread of COVID- 19.