Is it true that there was once a pandemic, which also broke out in China, worse than COVID-19, and claimed between 75 million to 400 million lives worldwide?
There was once a pandemic, which also broke out in China, worse than COVID-19, and claimed between 75 million to 400 million lives worldwide
Verdict: FALSE
Source:WhatsApp chat group.
A viral message shared in a WhatsApp group, one participant posted a message which read:
“Did you know China is the worst wold in pandemics and there was once a worse pandemic which killed over 75 millions to 400 millions worldwide Coronavirus is nothing compared” (sic).
Research has shown that no pandemic in recent history has claimed between 75 million to 400 million lives worldwide.
The most severe pandemic in recent history, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), is the 1918 Influenza, caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. It is important to note that there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, while it is estimated that about 500 million people became infected with this virus with the number of deaths estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide. research here
Background
Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) broke out in December 2019 in China, before spreading across the globe and has so far claimed over 40, 000 lives.
The Asian flu (1957-1958) pandemic was another deadly disease with its roots in China which claimed more than 1 million lives.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the disease spread rapidly and was reported in Singapore in February 1957, Hong Kong in April 1957, and the coastal cities of the United States in the summer of 1957. Source Live Science
