Coronavirus has potential to be as serious as 1918 Spanish Flu: Fauci

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

US top infectious disease specialist, Anthony Fauci, on Tuesday said that coronavirus a pandemic of "historic proportions" has the potential to be as serious as the 1918 Spsh Flu in which over 50 million people globally died.

"I think we can't deny that fact," CNN quoted Fauci as saying during a Georgetown University Global Health Initiative webinar. "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 Spsh Flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide--about one-third of the planet's population.

The challenge in the US now is the resurgence of infections in the South and Southwestern part of the country. Fauci said California, Florida, Arizona and Texas are the states to watch now.

"They're seeing record numbers of cases, most interestingly, among young individuals," Fauci said.

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.

( With inputs from ANI )