COVID-19: Like a mild variant ended Spanish Flu 100 years ago, can Omicron end this pandemic

The first case of Omicron was found in India on December 2. Since then, the number of patients of Omicron has reached increased. The actual figures may be higher than the official numbers, as Omicron cases are currently only detected when genome sequencing of patient samples is done. 

On the other hand, the first case of Omicron in the world was found in South Africa on 24 November. After this, from December 12, every day, more than 30,000 new cases of Omicron were reported from the country. However, now, only about 4,000 daily cases are being discovered there. This suggests that the Omicron wave is dangerous but it will not last long.

Interestingly, Omicron has something in common with the pandemic that the world saw about 100 years ago, i.e., the Spanish Flu.

The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide--about one-third of the planet's population.

In India, it began from Bombay, now Mumbai, and spread to other parts of the country causing as many as 2 crore deaths within two years. If we talk specifically about India, both COVID-19 and Spanish Flu have a lot in common. Based on these similarities, coronavirus may become an endemic with the advent of Omicron, experts have said.

The two even showed similar infection patter, the first wave being mild and the second being huge and deadly.

Following two waves, the virus that caused the Spanish flu mutated and become mild. It was so mild that the patients only showed symptoms like the common cold. It didn’t cause much damage and was milder than the second wave. In India, there was no fourth wave of Spanish Flu.

Last year, US top infectious disease specialist, Anthony Fauci, had said that coronavirus is a pandemic of "historic proportions" and has the potential to be as serious as the 1918 Spanish Flu in which over 50 million people globally died.

"If you look at the magnitude of the 1918 pandemic, where anywhere from 50 to 75 to 100 million people globally died, that was the mother of all pandemics and truly historic. I hope we don't even approach that with this, but it does have the makings of, the possibility of ... approaching that in seriousness."

The coronavirus infection was first reported in China's Wuhan province. From there, it spread to the whole world. So far, over 13 million cases have been reported worldwide and 5,75,000 people have died due to the pandemic.