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Map shows how coronavirus compares with previous disease outbreaks

The interactive mapping tool was created by the Vaccine Centre and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (Picture: Vaccine Centre)
This interactive mapping tool was created by the Vaccine Centre and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. (Vaccine Centre)

The spread of the coronavirus can be compared with other deadly disease outbreaks in a new map.

The interactive tool tracks the history of the new virus, which has killed more than 1,100 people and infected 44,000.

It compares it to other recent outbreaks, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003 (also caused by a coronavirus), swine flu in 2009 and the Ebola outbreak in 2014, and enables users to view the situation around the world on any given day of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The red circles show the number of coronavirus cases and deaths around the globe.

A user can then click on icons for other previous outbreaks that will bring up blue, purple and green circles to show how they compare.

The makers of the map, created by the Vaccine Centre and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said they hoped it would “provide more context to the daily headlines and a fresh perspective on key turning points in the disease’s history”.

The coronavirus can be transmitted via droplets when an infected person breathes out, coughs or sneezes, and can also spread via contaminated surfaces such as door handles.

Experts have said it is more easily transmitted than the Sars virus.

The incubation period is believed to be up to 14 days.

People may be able to infect others before symptoms appear.

Coronavirus (red) compared to Sars (blue) in 2003 (Picture: Vaccine Centre)
The new coronavirus (red) in 2020 compared with Sars (blue) in 2003. (Vaccine Centre)
Coronavirus compared to ebola (green) in 2014 (Picture: Vaccine Centre)
The coronavirus compared to Ebola (green) in 2014. (Vaccine Centre)
Coronavirus compared to swine flu (purple) in 2009 (Picture: Vaccine Centre)
The coronavirus compared to swine flu (purple) in 2009. (Vaccine Centre)

It took the new coronavirus 48 days to infect its first 1,000 people. In comparison, Sars took 130 days to infect the same number.

The world’s worst epidemic of Ebola began in Guinea in December 2013 and swept through Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing more than 11,300 people by 2016.

The swine flu pandemic of 2009 killed an estimated 284,500 people, about 15 times the number confirmed by laboratory tests at the time.

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Members of staff wait as coaches carrying Coronavirus evacuees arrive at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, in Milton Keynes, after being repatriated to the UK from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China. (Photo by Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images)
Staff wait as coaches carrying coronavirus evacuees arrive at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. (Getty)

As of Tuesday evening, a total of 1,358 people have been tested for coronavirus in the UK, 1,350 of whom were confirmed negative and eight positive, the Department of Health said.

Boris Johnson has praised the response of the NHS and said anyone concerned should “simply follow their advice”.

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In this photograph taken through a window, a worker in protective clothing, including face mask and gloves, is pictured cleaning the floor of the pharmacy attached to the at the Warmdene doctor's Surgery at County Oak Medical Centre in Brighton, southern England on February 10, 2020, after it closed for "urgent operational health and safety reasons", following reports a member of staff was infected with the 2019-nCoV strain of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19,. - The British government on Monday warned the outbreak of novel coronavirus was a "serious and imminent threat" and reported four new cases that brought the total recorded in the country to eight. Two hospitals The Royal Free and Guys and St Thomas', have both been designated as "isolation" facilities, with both currently housing Britons who have returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
A worker cleans the floor at the Warmdene doctor's Surgery in Brighton after a member of staff was infected with the coronavirus. (Getty)

Speaking in Birmingham on Tuesday, the prime minister said: “We are a great country, we have got a fantastic NHS, we have got fantastic doctors and advice, and they should simply take the advice of the NHS.

“People have every reason to be confident and calm about all that kind of thing… all the coronavirus, and any threats from disease.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the new strain of coronavirus is to be called Covid-19.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, described the outbreak as “a very grave threat for the rest of the world”.