Five times a global epidemic threatened humanity and the aftermath

Public health officials all over the world are racing to contain the coronavirus outbreak that emerged in China last December and is now spreading into other countries.

Coronavirus, officially known as COVID_19, has killed more than 3,000 people and affected over 90,000, mainly in China.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the disease does not match any other known virus. The coronavirus is “a family of viruses that include the common cold, and viruses such as SARS and MERS.”

At the moment, the countries most affected after China are South Korea (over 5,000 cases), Italy (over 3,000 cases), Iran (about 2,922 cases) and Japan (317 cases).

With infections spreading to more countries every day, the virus has sparked fears globally, especially due to the current lack of cure. Authorities around the world have begun implementing various screening and preventive measures as the deadly coronavirus spreads.

But this is not the first time the world has had to be on its toes to contain the spread of a novel virus or disease. In an increasingly connected age, outbreaks of infectious diseases do move from a remote village to major areas in other parts of the world in hours.

Face2face Africa takes a look at some of the worst epidemics the world has experienced over the years: