Covid-19 deadliest pandemic in US, claimed more lives than 1918 ‘Spanish flu’

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has come with data that has shocked many. The numbers reveal that the covid-19 has claimed more lives in the US than Spanish flu, a 1918 pandemic that killed more than 6,75,000 people in the US. As per to Our World in Data’s update till 10 pm on Tuesday, the death toll in the country due to covid-19 stood at 6,76,076, making it the deadliest pandemic ever in the US.

According to an editorial in the Postgraduate Medical Journal, the case of the first 1918 pandemic was reported in Madrid. But the reports also said that the flu did not really originate in Spain. This pandemic remains one of the deadliest pandemic of the 20th century. It’s spread was fuelled by global troop movement during WWI.

Globally, the 1918 pandemic claimed at least 50 million lives, as per the data cited by CDC. As for India, the numbers stand between 12-13 million, according to a study published in the journal Demography in 2016. But then, in 2018, another study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology noted that a total number of 17.4 million people died globally due to influenza.

The United States is now easing its covid led restrictions and will soon be allowing foreign travellers to enter its borders from the UK, EU followed by other nations. Foreign travellers will be allowed to travel into the US from November onwards given they are fully vaccinated. They will have to, however, go through testing and contact tracing as well. The country has had tough travel restrictions in place since early last year due to covid. This move would mean that friends and families who were separated by the restrictions can finally meet and reunite. “It’s a happy day for us”, French entrepreneur Stephane Le Breton was quoted as saying to news agency Associated press as he looks forward to flying to New York for a trip.

The restrictions from the US were first imposed on travellers from China in early 2020 when the pandemic hit the country. It was then extended to other countries as well.