Did you know, the word quarantine has its origin from the 14th century from Italy?
The practice of quarantine, as we know it, began during the 14th century in an effort to protect coastal cities from plague epidemics. Ships arriving in Venice from infected ports were required to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing. This practice, called quarantine, was derived from the Italian words “quaranta giorni” which means 40 days.
In the 14th century, the Bubonic Plague a bacterial infection also known as the black death was spreading throughout the continent. It is estimated that it wiped off almost one-third of Europe’s population.
This disease started in the year 1347 and stayed until 1350. At that time, the port city of Ragusa which was controlled by the officials of Venetian passed a law of “TRENTINO” i.e. 30 day’s isolation for the ships arriving from the plague affected zones. No one at that time was allowed to visit those ships under the Trentino law. The same measures were adopted by other countries to stop the spread of the plague.
Over a period of time, the 30 days isolation was changed to 40 days isolation period, which change the term from “Trentino” to “Quarantino”.
Quarantine has been practiced by people over centuries to keep the virus intact from infecting others. The practice of Quarantine has been adopted every time any deadly virus or disease starts spreading without knowing what caused the disease.
Today, almost all the countries affected by the pandemic of coronavirus has passed the order of Quarantine, social distancing, and self-hygiene. If we sincerely follow the rules, we all shall be able to come out of this situation soon. So, stay home and stay safe until we find out the ways to defeat the novel coronavirus.
Source – www.CDC.org
Written & Compiled by Faber Mayuri & Faber Priyal
