What is the Coronavirus Pandemic?
The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, an acute respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified on December 1, 2019 in Wuhan, China. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak to be a pandemic. There are now more than 5,500,000 people infected in more than 185 countries around the world.
All epidemics compared to Coronavirus
The following table shows all epidemics in history that caused at least 1,000 deaths. The name of the epidemic, the associated disease/virus, the period in which it was active, and the number of deaths are mentioned in separate columns. They are ordered by greater number of fatalities. The coronavirus appears highlighted.
Rank | Epidemic [source] | Start | Finish | Disease | Death Toll (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Plague of Athens | -429 | -426 | Typhus/Typhoid Fever/Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (possibility) | 100,000 |
| 7 | Antonine Plague | 165 | 180 | Smallpox | 10,000,000 |
| 3 | Plague of Justinian | 541 | 542 | Plague | 50,000,000 |
| 24 | Plague of Sheroe | 627 | 628 | Plague | 100,000 |
| 11 | Japanese Smallpox Epidemic | 735 | 737 | Smallpox | 2,000,000 |
| 1 | Black Death | 1331 | 1353 | Plague | 200,000,000 |
| 46 | English Sweating Sickness (multiple outbreaks) | 1485 | 1551 | Hantavirus | 10,000 |
| 8 | Smallpox Epidemic of 1520 (Mexico) | 1520 | 1520 | Smallpox | 8,000,000 |
| 5 | Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545-48 | 1545 | 1548 | Salmonella Enterica (possibility) | 15,000,000 |
| 37 | London Plague of 1563 | 1563 | 1564 | Plague | 20,100 |
| 10 | Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1576 | 1576 | 1580 | Salmonella Enterica (possibility) | 2,500,000 |
| 39 | London Plague of 1592-93 | 1592 | 1593 | Plague | 19,900 |
| 57 | Malta Plague Epidemic of 1592-93 | 1592 | 1593 | Plague | 3,000 |
| 54 | New England Epidemic of 1616 | 1616 | 1620 | 4,000 | |
| 23 | Italian Plague of 1629-31 | 1629 | 1631 | Plague | 280,000 |
| 21 | Great Plague of Seville | 1647 | 1652 | Plague | 500,000 |
| 36 | Plague (Netherlands) | 1663 | 1664 | Plague | 24,148 |
| 24 | Great Plague of London | 1665 | 1666 | Plague | 100,000 |
| 33 | Plague (France) | 1668 | 1668 | Plague | 40,000 |
| 43 | Malta Plague Epidemic of 1675-76 | 1675 | 1676 | Plague | 11,300 |
| 29 | Great Plague of Vienna | 1679 | 1679 | Plague | 76,000 |
| 40 | Great Smallpox Epidemic (Iceland) | 1707 | 1709 | Smallpox | 18,000 |
| 31 | Great Plague of 1738 | 1738 | 1738 | Plague | 50,000 |
| 31 | Russian Plague of 1770-72 | 1770 | 1772 | Plague | 50,000 |
| 11 | Persian Plague of 1772-73 | 1772 | 1772 | Plague | 2,000,000 |
| 48 | Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic | 1793 | 1798 | Yellow Fever | 5,000 |
| 22 | Ottoman Plague Epidemic | 1812 | 1819 | Plague | 300,000 |
| 30 | Caragea's Plague | 1813 | 1813 | Plague | 60,000 |
| 51 | Malta Plague Epidemic of 1813-14 | 1813 | 1814 | Plague | 4,500 |
| 24 | First Cholera Pandemic | 1816 | 1826 | Cholera | 100,000 |
| 59 | Groningen Epidemic | 1829 | 1829 | Malaria | 2,844 |
| 24 | Second Cholera Pandemic | 1829 | 1851 | Cholera | 100,000 |
| 41 | Great Plains Smallpox epidemic | 1837 | 1838 | Smallpox | 17,000 |
| 38 | North American Typhus Epidemic of 1847 | 1847 | 1848 | Epidemic Typhus | 20,000 |
| 15 | Third Cholera Pandemic | 1852 | 1860 | Cholera | 1,000,000 |
| 50 | Copenhagen Cholera Epidemic | 1853 | 1853 | Cholera | 4,737 |
| 5 | Third Plague Pandemic | 1855 | 1960 | Bubonic Plague | 15,000,000 |
| 57 | Smallpox (Central Coast/British Columbia) | 1862 | 1863 | Smallpox | 3,000 |
| 19 | Fourth Cholera Pandemic | 1863 | 1875 | Cholera | 600,000 |
| 33 | Fiji Measles Outbreak | 1875 | 1875 | Measles | 40,000 |
| 47 | Fifth Cholera Pandemic | 1881 | 1896 | Cholera | 9,000 |
| 56 | Smallpox (Montreal) | 1885 | 1885 | Smallpox | 3,164 |
| 15 | Flu Pandemic of 1889-90 | 1889 | 1890 | Influenza | 1,000,000 |
| 18 | Sixth Cholera Pandemic | 1899 | 1923 | Cholera | 800,000 |
| 33 | China Plague of 1910 | 1910 | 1912 | Bubonic Plague | 40,000 |
| 14 | Encephalitis Lethargica Pandemic | 1915 | 1926 | Encephalitis Lethargica | 1,500,000 |
| 2 | Spanish Flu | 1918 | 1920 | Influenza A Virus Subtype H1N1 | 100,000,000 |
| 11 | Asian Flu | 1957 | 1958 | Influenza A Virus Subtype H2N2 | 2,000,000 |
| 15 | Hong Kong Flu | 1968 | 1969 | Influenza A Virus Subtype H3N2 | 1,000,000 |
| 62 | London Flu | 1972 | 1973 | Influenza A Virus Subtype H3N2 | 1,027 |
| 42 | Indian Smallpox Epidemic of 1974 | 1974 | 1974 | Smallpox | 15,000 |
| 4 | HIV/AIDS Pandemic | 1981 | 2024 | HIV/AIDS | 35,000,000 |
| 53 | Zimbabwean Cholera Outbreak of 2008-09 | 2008 | 2009 | Cholera | 4,293 |
| 20 | Flu Pandemic of 2009 | Swine Flu | 2009 | 2009 | Pandemic H1N1/09 Virus | 575,400 |
| 45 | Haiti Cholera Outbreak | 2010 | 2024 | Cholera (Strain Serogroup O1, Serotype Ogawa) | 10,075 |
| 43 | West Africa Ebola Virus Epidemic | 2013 | 2016 | Ebola Virus Disease | 11,300 |
| 51 | Measles (Democratic Republic of the Congo) | 2014 | 2024 | Measles | 4,500 |
| 61 | Indian Swine Flu Outbreak of 2015 | 2015 | 2015 | Influenza A Virus Subtype H1N1 | 2,035 |
| 55 | Yemen Cholera Outbreak of 2016-17 | 2016 | 2024 | Cholera | 3,886 |
| 60 | Kivu Ebola Epidemic of 2018-19 | 2018 | 2024 | Ebola Virus Disease | 2,253 |
| 9 | COVID-19 Pandemic (August 2021) | 2019 | 2024 | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)) | 5,740,000 |
| 48 | Democratic Republic of the Congo Measles Outbreak of 2019 | 2019 | 2024 | Measles | 5,000 |
