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How the coronavirus compares to SARS, swine flu, Zika, and other epidemics
 [Bus Insider] The novel coronavirus outbreak has raised concerns across the globe, with more than 113,000 confirmed cases worldwide.But to some, the coronavirus outbreak is reminiscent of epidemics that have caused a panic in recent memory, including SARS, MERS, the Zika virus, and swine flu. So how exactly does the coronavirus stack up to those epidemics? For one, we know that the coronavirus outbreak is not as deadly as the SARS epidemic of 2003, which killed around 10% of the 8,098 confirmed cases of the respiratory illness. And it's far less deadly than Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, which has killed around 34% of the roughly 2,500 confirmed cases since it was first reported in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. However, both of those illnesses were far more contained than COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. There have been more than 113,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and it has a mortality rate of 3.4%, according to the latest data. "It has been more widespread than SARS and MERS. More people are getting infected" Aria Bendix, a senior science reporter for Business Insider said. "But less of those people who are getting infected are actually dying from it." Posted by: Besoeker 2020-03-11 |
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