As a note of comparison, on March 3 of this year, the WHO announced COVID‐19’s global mortality rate of 3.4%, more than 3 times higher than that reported for seasonal flu’s 1%.118 Ghebreyesus, T.A. (2020, March 3). WHO Director‐General’s Opening Remarks at the Media Briefing on COVID‐19 ‐ 3 March 2020. World Health Organization. Retrieved April 28, 2020, from https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who‐director‐general‐s‐opening‐remarks‐at‐the‐media‐briefing‐on‐covid‐19‐‐‐3‐march‐2020
We have seen how quickly seasonal influenza can be passed on from one person to another and these reproductive numbers are up to more than 3 times higher than that for seasonal influenza’s 1.3.119 Coburn, B.J., Wagner, B.G., & Blower, S. (2009, June 22). Modeling Influenza Epidemics and Pandemics: Insights into the Future of Swine Flu (H1N1). BMC Medicine. 7(30). Retrieved July 6, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2715422/pdf/1741‐7015‐7‐30.pdf
Although the reproduction numbers have gone down since the onset of the pandemic, the large number of people already affected, the capability of asymptomatic patients to transmit the infection, the lack of knowledge concerning other aspects of the disease, and the impact of the prolonged containment measures on social, psychological and economic issues have made it difficult to control further spread of the disease.