I think a lack of good hygiene standards in some countries has had a part to play as well. I very much doubt that coronavirus would have started in a country with generally high standards of hygiene such as the UK for instance, and most other developed western countries.
The question that keeps coming to my mind is why has this virus been so much worse in terms of the way it has spread over the vast majority of the world and the number of people infected than those other diseases.
IIRC, the Ebola outbreak in 2014 was largely contained within the continent of Africa. I remember the Zika virus was in Brazil around the time that country hosted the 2016 Olympics; I seem to recall that a few UK athletes across a number of sports withdrew from those games amid fears over that virus. Yet, despite Brazil being a country with a huge population, I don't recall hearing any reports at that time of that disease spreading throughout a number of other countries.
Originally Posted by: David M Porter