Footage from six years ago has resurfaced showing how experts predicted a global pandemic eerily similar to the one we’re enduring.
SBS Insight aired a special episode six years ago where they talked to a panel of virology experts about what would happen in a hypothetical pandemic in Australia.
A clip is now recirculating on the internet after the SBS team noticed the uncanny similarities to today’s COVID-19 pandemic — from it being a respiratory virus, to pinpointing China as the place where the virus would originate, and even the 1.5m social distancing rule.
However, the one thing they got wrong was the response of the Australian public.
In their scenario, forced self-isolation with threats of fines and imprisonment was the last ditch scenario if no one listened — and they didn’t expect it to get that point.
The episode, called Pandemic, aired on September 24, 2014.
“In a special episode, Insight explores just how Australia would cope in a hypothetical influenza pandemic situation. Are we ready?” the description reads.
Professor Anne Kelso from the World Health Organisation was right on the money when she said it would be a respiratory illness that originated from animals somewhere in Asia.
“If we’re talking about a new avian influenza then the most likely thing is it’ll come from somewhere in Asia,” she told viewers.
“There are very high densities of bird populations living closely to humans, mixing with other animals which can also be infected with flu viruses like pigs.
“This can then spread like wildfire because it’s a respiratory virus.”