NEXT UP! 3 84 Going viral In December 2019, a coronavirus appeared in the Wuhan province in China. Within weeks, the virus had spread to several continents and was declared a pandemic. All of a sudden, we got used to covering our faces in public, social distancing and home schooling. But why are we more at risk than ever of infectious diseases becoming pandemics? First of all, our travel habits help viruses spread fast. Nowadays, a person can travel halfway across the globe in less time than it takes a virus to incubate. That way infections can spread before symptoms even develop in a person. The ever-increasing number of planes taking off daily helped the coronavirus spread quickly to most parts of the world. Secondly, climate change also plays a role because more extreme weather can fuel the spread of diseases. In some areas, flooding brings waterborne diseases like cholera. Before reading Read the title and look at the photos. What do you think this text might be about? Write down your thoughts in keywords. to appear – birtast to declare – lýsa yfir social distancing – félagsleg fjarlægð infectious – smitandi a disease – sjúkdómur to incubate – þróa einkenni to develop – þróast ever-increasing – stöðugt vaxandi to fuel – ýta undir flooding – flóð waterborne – sem berst með vatni A worker outside the Wuhan centre for disease control in the Hubei province of China, in February, 2021
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