How Covid-19 compares to past pandemics

The new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has spread to nearly every country in the world since it first emerged in China three months ago, drawing parallels with some of history’s most deadly pandemics


NUMBER OF PEOPLE KILLED IN PANDEMICS
1900-2020

1918-19
“Spanish flu” (H1N1 virus)
At least 50 million
About 500 million people infected (one-third of world’s population)

1957-58
“Asian flu”
(H2N2 virus)
1.1 million

1968-69
“Hong Kong flu”
(H3N2 virus)
1 million

2009-10
“Swine flu”
(H1N1 virus)
Up to 575,000

2019-
Covid-19
Over 35,000
(at Mar 30, 2020)

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020


VIRUS REPRODUCTIVE NUMBER (“R naught”)
Average number of new infections generated by each infected person

Covid-19	Spanish flu / Hong Kong flu	Asian flu 	Swine flu 	Seasonal flu
2.2 		1.8 				1.6 		1.5 		1.3


Sources: BioMed Central, CDC, Johns Hopkins University, NCBI 
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