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What Impact Could the COVID-19 Pandemic have on Public Health?
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Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is currently wreaking havoc across the globe. This virus is the 7th coronavirus to cause disease in humans and is the first to cause a full-blown global pandemic. The disease has now spread to 213 countries worldwide and its geographical range is rapidly expanding. This virus is spread through droplet transmission from the lungs and causes severe respiratory problems in humans. The World Health Organization (WHO) is playing a leading role in tackling this pandemic since the beginning. The present COVID-19 pandemic shares many similarities with the Spanish flu, which occurred over a century ago and killed 50-100 million people. The lessons learnt from the Spanish flu has major implications for the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, COVID-19 could have a major impact on public health by influencing many aspects, including hand hygiene, facemask use, social distancing, public health behaviour, among many others. These have been addressed in the present article.
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