Watch | A history of pandemics since the 20th century

A video on some of the major pandemics that have occurred since the 20th century

The World Health Organisation has declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. A pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease.

The history’s worst known infectious disease outbreak of the Spanish flu occurred in 1918. The influenza virus H1N1 killed more than 50 million people and infected over 500 million people across the world.

Starting from the Spanish flu of 20th century, the world has witnessed several disease outbreaks. Some of the major pandemics since the 20th century are Spanish flu, Asian flu, Hong Kong flu, HIV, SARS, Swine flu, MERS, Ebola and COVID-19 .