Pandemics. Fancy some numbers?
Following the UK flight banning, the headline is Portugal, but there are many countries also banned from South America not least due to their links with Portugal. I thought following a blog I penned the other day a simple list is called for. People like lists especially in the scan reading days of the early 21st Century. So here is one on death rates. Each point has the years for the particular plague or disease , the world population at the time and of course the death rate for the disease.
- WHEN DISEASE World Pop No OF DEATHS PERCENTAGE
- Middle Ages (1200AD) Leprosy 360M Unknown No cure at the time. Approx 200,000 infected p/a today but it can now be cured.
- 1889/1890 Russian Flu 1.6B 1M (approx) 0.06%
- 1852/1860 Cholera Pandemic (3rd) 1.2B 1M (approx) 0.83%
- 1520 to 1980 Smallpox 460M 56M In South America it killed 90%, in Mexico alone 10M people during the 1500’s
- 1957/58 Asian Flu 2.9B 1-4M (estimated) Between 0.034 – 0.13%
- 1347/1351 The Black Death 360M 75-200M Between 20-50% worldwide
- 1918/1920 Spanish Flu 1.8B 50M (approx) 2.7%
- 2020/2021 Covid19 7B 2M 0.026% (so far)
A reminder though this current pandemic is not over and you could argue our behaviour is helping to stem the infection which is surely is in my opinion. I shall update this piece so that we can look back on the covid figures monthly. Stay safe and wash your hands!