From pandemic to endemic: Do you know what these terms mean?

Although the government announced that Malaysia had entered a transition from the Covid-19 pandemic to an endemic phase on April 1, 2022, it took another three years for the official revocation of the government's authority to impose pandemic-level restrictions. — 123rf

For many of us, the year 2020 might have been the first time we were introduced to epidemiological terms such as “pandemic”, “epidemic”, and even “endemic”, as Covid-19 began to spread its devastating effect around the world.

You may vaguely understand that these terms refer to infectious illnesses, but what do they really mean and what differentiates these terms?