A Pandemic is a global outbreak that affects the whole world and causes high rates of cases and deaths. This is different from an epidemic, which is a disease that is spreading quickly in a limited geographical area. There are many reasons why a disease might become a pandemic, and the onset of this latest outbreak has been accelerated by global travel and urbanisation.
In this article, we will look at what makes a disease a pandemic and why some diseases seem to become pandemics more frequently than others. We will also look at how this latest outbreak is being responded to.
Almost any type of infectious disease can become a pandemic, but the most dangerous are those that spread rapidly and affect large numbers of people. This is what has happened with the COVID-19 outbreak. The first signs of the current pandemic appeared in Wuhan, China, and soon cases were appearing in countries across the world. Within a few weeks, the outbreak had reached its peak incidence.
This is one of the fastest and largest pandemics in a century, and it has affected people of all ages, sexes and social classes. The death toll of this pandemic has been very high, especially compared to other flu outbreaks. The fact that it has spread so quickly and widely around the world is a direct result of modern global travel, and increased population density in cities. We are seeing more and more disease outbreaks that begin locally, but quickly spread to a global scale.