The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world into a standstill threatening the lives of millions of people. The viral outbreak which began at a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019 turned into a global pandemic in less than four months. So far the deadly virus has claimed over 33000 lives and infected 697244 people across 204 countries areas or territories. But COVID-19 is not the first viral disease to gain the attention of the world. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there have been two other epidemics from viruses which belong to the same species. They