On Friday, the World Health Organisation said, “We hope to finish this pandemic before less than two years”. He stressed that we can get rid of the coronavirus pandemic faster than the 1918 Spanish flu Pandemic.
WHO acknowledged that factors like globalisation, closeness and connectedness of the present world has put us at disadvantage in the fight against the current pandemic compared to the past world when Spanish flu outbreak happened. These factors have allowed the coronavirus to spread around the world at lightning speed. But due to the technological advancement of the present world, we are also at advantage now.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “Utilising the available tools to the maximum and hoping that we can have additional tools like vaccines, I think we can finish it in a shorter time than the 1918 flu.”
Spanish flu had infected around 500 million people around the world between the period of February 1918 and April 2020 while it led to 50 million deaths (the death figure is 5 times more than that of World War I). Coronavirus, till this date, has infected nearly 23 million people worldwide while it is responsible for 800,000 deaths.
A pandemic is observed to have a seasonal outbreak pattern over time. Spanish Flu also had emerged in three waves.
WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan commented, “This virus (coronavirus) is not displaying a similar wave-like pattern. Clearly, when the disease is not under control, it jumps straight back up.”