Holiday homework-2020-2021

class-9
subject-social science
Topic-the corona virus in light
of other pandemic in history

Since March 16, more cases were registered outside

mainland China than inside, marking a new milestone in
the spread of the global pandemic. 
The virus has spread from China all around the world,
prompting the WHO to label the COVID-19 outbreak a
pandemic.
Human-to-human transmissions became evident after
cases were recorded with no apparent link to China.
History of pandemics

The History of Pandemics
As humans have spread across the world, so have infectious diseases. Even in this modern era,
outbreaks are nearly constant, though not every outbreak reaches pandemic level as COVID-19 has.
Today’s visualization outlines some of history’s most deadly pandemics, from the Antonine Plague
to the current COVID-19 event.

A Timeline of Historical Pandemics

Disease and illnesses have plagued humanity since the earliest days, our mortal
flaw. However, it was not until the marked shift to agrarian communities that the
scale and spread of these diseases increased dramatically.

Widespread trade created new opportunities for human and animal interactions
that sped up such epidemics. Malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, smallpox,
and others first appeared during these early years.

The more civilized humans became – with larger cities, more exotic trade routes,
and increased contact with different populations of people, animals, and
ecosystems – the more likely pandemics would occur.
Few pandemics around the world

 1. Prehistoric epidemic: Circa 3000 B.C.

About 5,000 years ago, an epidemic wiped out a prehistoric village in
China. The bodies of the dead were stuffed inside a house that was later
burned down. No age group was spared, as the skeletons of juveniles, young
adults and middle-age people were found inside the house. The
archaeological site is now called "Hamin Mangha" and is one of the best-
preserved prehistoric sites in northeastern China. Archaeological and
anthropological study indicates that the epidemic happened quickly
enough that there was no time for proper burials, and the site was not
inhabited again. 
 Before the discovery of Hamin Mangha, another prehistoric mass burial
that dates to roughly the same time period was found at a site called
Miaozigou, in northeastern China. Together, these discoveries suggest that
an epidemic ravaged the entire region. 
2. Plague of Athens: 430 B.C.

 Around 430 B.C., not long after a war between Athens and Sparta began, an
epidemic ravaged the people of Athens and lasted for five years. Some
estimates put the death toll as high as 100,000 people. The Greek historian
Thucydides (460-400 B.C.) wrote that "people in good health were all of a
sudden attacked by violent heats in the head, and redness and inflammation
in the eyes, the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody
and emitting an unnatural and fetid breath" (translation by Richard Crawley
from the book "The History of the Peloponnesian War," London Dent, 1914). 
 What exactly this epidemic was has long been a source of debate among
scientists; a number of diseases have been put forward as possibilities,
including typhoid fever and Ebola. Many scholars believe that overcrowding
caused by the war exacerbated the epidemic. Sparta's army was stronger,
forcing the Athenians to take refuge behind a series of fortifications called the
"long walls" that protected their city. Despite the epidemic, the war continued
on, not ending until 404 B.C., when Athens was forced to capitulate to Sparta. 
3. Antonine Plague: A.D. 165-180
 When soldiers returned to the Roman Empire from campaigning, they
brought back more than the spoils of victory. The Antonine Plague, which
may have been smallpox, laid waste to the army and may have killed over 5
million people in the Roman empire, wrote April Pudsey, a senior lecturer
in Roman History at Manchester Metropolitan University, in a paper
published in the book "Disability in Antiquity," Routledge, 2017). 
 Many historians believe that the epidemic was first brought into the
Roman Empire by soldiers returning home after a war against Parthia. The
epidemic contributed to the end of the Pax Romana (the Roman Peace), a
period from 27 B.C. to A.D. 180, when Rome was at the height of its power.
After A.D. 180, instability grew throughout the Roman Empire, as it
experienced more civil wars and invasions by "barbarian" groups.
Christianity became increasingly popular in the time after the plague
occurred. 
Comparing COVID-19 with Spanish flu
and other viral outbreaks
 The cause of most pandemics is a zoonosis virus from an animal that leapt over to people.
HIV was transmitted from a chimpanzee. All coronaviruses are transmitted from bats
with a secondary host. In SARS it was a cat, in MERS it was a camel, and COVID-19 is a
pangolin, which is prized for its meat and used for traditional medicine in China. H1N1
was a hybrid from birds and cows.
 What’s different, I think, is that COVID-19 is going to turn out to be an equal-opportunity
virus with a high risk for bad outcomes for the elderly, newborns, babies and people who
are immunosuppressed. Like H1N1 and seasonal flus, COVID-19 is highly communicable.
What’s different is it has 10 times greater mortality rates than the seasonal flu.
 How does COVID-19 compare to the Spanish flu outbreak a century ago?  
 Both were pandemics — the 1918-19 flu and now COVID-19 — and zoonoses, meaning
both probably originated in animals and then transferred to man. The bat was the
primary reservoir for COVID-19, and birds are thought to be the reservoir for the flu of
1918-19. The other thing is, clinically, the flu of 1918-19 is a little bit like H1N1, and like
H1N1, which came through here in 2009-10, it primarily attacked young adults. That's
different than what we are seeing today with COVID-19. 
 It's a hundred years later than that flu epidemic, and now we have a chance to have a
drug  — maybe within six months  — and a chance to have a vaccine in a year or year and
a half.
Risks of coronavirus or COVID-19
The number of fatalities from the new coronavirus has overwhelmingly
surpassed the toll of the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, which also originated in
China.
SARS killed about 9 percent of those it infected - nearly 800 people
worldwide and more than 300 in China alone. MERS, which did not spread as
widely, was more deadly, killing one-third of those infected.
While the new coronavirus is more widespread than SARS in terms of case
numbers, the mortality rate remains considerably lower at approximately 3.4
percent, according to the WHO.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), older
people are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 which may result in
increased stress during a crisis.
People who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung
disease or diabetes also seem to be at high risk for developing more serious
complications from COVID-19 illness.
ALL DAYS,FEELS LIKE SUNDAY
 WORK FROM HOME
 STAY HOME,STAY SAFE
 NO WORKOUT,ONLY YOGA

THESE ABOVE MENTIONED ARE THE THINGS THAT

IS GOING ON,
THE PANDEMIC HAS REALLY DISTURBED THE DAILY
LIFE

EAT,SLEEP,BORE,REPEAT
 MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY
DISTURBED
‘Coronavirus overdose’ on TV, social media wreaking havoc on mental and physical
health of people
It is nearly impossible to read the news, scroll through social media, have a conversation, or
engage in regular daily activities without hearing about the world-famous coronavirus.This
virus, which was first discovered in China in December 2019 and has spread to more than 70
countries, has killed more than 3,000 individuals and has sickened tens of thousands of
people in a matter of months.
Sure, it is easy to compare coronavirus to influenza A and B and laugh at the many memes
that are circulating online poking fun at the hysteria associated with this deadly virus. Many
millennials are capitalizing on cheap flights and saying, "Hey, if I die, then I die." What many
people are forgetting is that lives have been lost because of this deadly virus. If your
grandmother or father died after being infected with coronavirus, would you continue to
laugh? 
This virus is no longer about you becoming infected; it is more about you being a vessel of
contact with others. This is about you potentially spreading the virus to those who cannot
survive it. This is about caring for each other.
This is a pandemic that should be taken seriously; however, the lines between hysteria and
educated precautions have been blurred.
DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL,NEELBAD
WRITTEN AND CREATED BY- AMANDEEP SINGH,A
STUDENT OF CLASS 9E,SCHOLAR NO.5427

STAY HOME,STAY SAFE