THE FIRST ANDEMIC OF THE CENTURY

THE MESSENGER

Let us start by defining what a pandemic is.  A pandemic is a disease or condition that is found in a large part of a population, that is, it can either be within a single country or between many different countries. Most of us did not know what a pandemic mean until our encounter with the Coronavirus disease in 2020. A Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The first known infections from SARS-CoV-2 were discovered in Wuhan, China. The original source of the viral transmission to humans remains unclear, as does when the virus was first able to cause disease to humans. Because many of those affected were workers at the Huanan Seafood Market, it has been said that the virus might have been given birth to in the market. However, other research suggests that visitors may have introduced the virus to the market, which then facilitated rapid expansion of the infection. The coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose.

Subsequently as with most human infections, the virus firstly slowly and then quickly spread to most Countries around the world making it a global pandemic.

For a virus that started in 2019, it has so far caused about 2,650,000 deaths and about 120,000,000  people have been infected by this virus   around the World  . This virus has greatly disrupted the world economy and travel around the world. Most people’s lives have been changed forever by this virus. We have all been affected one way or another by this virus, the full or partial lockdowns, the constant talk of sickness and death around us, the so much negativity around us, the fall in travel around the world, all these factors affect us, physically, mentally and psychologically.

The constant full or partial lockdowns has left many people with much idle time to kill, change in our normal routines, this  has given us the opportunity and space to reflect on our lives , to think how we spend our time on this planet , to reflect on what really makes us happy. This has led to couples spending much more time than usual at home together, rediscovering one another again, which has caused a strengthening of love bonds or divorce where couples have found little, or nothing unites them any longer. There has been also an increase in the number of people changing careers, suddenly realizing they are not happy in their jobs and want something else.  There has been a surge in online activity as much more people are online now than ever before in human history.

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