This post focuses on a shortlist of some important words for IELTS Writing, Speaking, Reading and Listening. Here, IELTS candidates can learn and practice pandemic/epidemic/medical crisis-related words and phrases. All the words are given here with definitions and their use in sentences. This vocabulary list will help you understand any pandemic or medical crisis-related topics as well as topics on medical crisis. This will also help you write essays and speak on the issues easily. 

Vocabulary list on ‘Pandemic/epidemic/medical crisis’:  

Acknowledge – accept or admit the existence or truth of something – The patients acknowledged their mistakes of not maintaining social distancing.

Airborne – transported by air – The airborne radioactive particles have covered a huge area of many countries.

Anxiety – a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome – She was shaking out of anxiety about her son’s ill health.  

Bailout – an act of giving financial assistance to a failing business or economy to save it from collapse – Many countries, without a bailout, would be bankrupt within a few months.

Breath – the air taken into or expelled from the lungs – She drew in a quick breath.

Briefing – a meeting (usually press conference) organised by a person, company, institution or organization – The journalists rushed to the conference hall of Sheltec Corp. to attend the briefing.  

Catastrophic outcome – results involving or causing sudden great damage or suffering – Such poor management in the health sector may lead to a catastrophic outcome.  

CDC – (short for Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention) the US agency charged with tracking and investigating public health trends – The CDC began as a federal initiative to prevent the spread of malaria in the United States.

Closure – an act or process of closing something, especially an institution, thoroughfare, or frontier, or of being closed – The government forced the closure of the factory.

Contagious – (of a disease) spread from one person or organism to another, typically by direct contact – Coronavirus is a highly contagious virus.

COVID 19 – also known as Coronavirus disease 2019, an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan in Hubei province of China – She is suffering from COVID19.

Critical – extremely serious or dangerous  – All the patients were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

Curfew – a regulation requiring people to remain indoors between specified hours, typically at night – The government has imposed a week-long curfew to contain the crisis.

Death toll – the number of deaths resulting from a particular cause – The death toll of COVID19 has now doubled in New York.  

Droplets – tiny drops (as of a liquid) – The new coronavirus typically spreads when droplets from an infected patient’s coughs or sneezes land on or get inhaled by another person.

Emergency – something dangerous or serious, such as an accident, that happens suddenly or unexpectedly and needs fast action in order to avoid harmful results – The governments in different countries have declared a state of emergency to contain the outbreak of the virus.  

Epidemic – a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time – It turned into an epidemic by the end of 2019.

Epidemiologist – scientists who study diseases within populations of people – A chief epidemiologist, Robert Berns, has called on the WHO to clarify its definition of an influenza pandemic.  

Fitness – the condition of being physically fit and healthy – He was examined as to his fitness before being appointed.

Foreseeable future – future as can be determined, based on what is known now – Profit and dividend growth looks like being above average for the foreseeable future.

Gathering – an assembly or meeting, especially one held for a specific purpose – Large religious and social gatherings have been discouraged by medical specialists to avoid massive transmission of the virus.

Guideline – a general rule, principle, or piece of advice – A new guideline has been issued to all staff and teachers on what to do if an unknown person enters the university.  

Home-quarantine – staying at home and avoiding contact with others if you have developed, or been exposed to, an infectious disease, until the infectious period of the illness is over, or until you know that you have not contracted an illness to which you have been exposed – Rosario went to home-quarantine as he didn’t want to risk his neighbourhood from being affected.

ICU – (short for intensive care unit) also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive treatment medicine – Seven patients were taken to ICU last night when their health deteriorated.

IMF – (short for International Monetary Fund) an international organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 189 countries working to promote global monetary cooperation, safe financial stability, facilitate international trade, encourage high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty – The head of the IMF has recently warned that the coronavirus pandemic has been causing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and may take a massive response to ensure recovery.  

Immune-boosting properties – elements in foods or medicine that can boost the immune system – The government is encouraging people to take fresh fruits as they have immune-boosting properties.

Immune system – the cells and tissues in the body that make it able to protect itself against infection – People with a strong immune system may survive during this Coronavirus outbreak.   

Impact – a marked effect or influence – The outbreak of Coronavirus has had a serious impact in the economy of many countries.

Infection – the invasion of an organism’s body tissues by disease-causing agents, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agents and the toxins they produce – Poor hygiene can increase the danger of infection.

Isolation – separation of sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick – He was in isolation for a couple of months due to the disease.

Lockdown – a state of isolation or restricted access instituted as a security measure – Many countries are on lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

Mask – a covering made of fibre or gauze and fitting over the nose and mouth to protect against air pollutants, or made of sterile gauze and worn to prevent infection of the wearer or (in surgery) of the patient – The demand for surgical masks has increased exponentially.

Misinformation – false or inaccurate information, especially that which is deliberately intended to deceive – Spreading misinformation about vaccines might not seem like a big matter to many people, but it is, in fact, a very big, life-and-death deal.

NHS – (short for National Health Service) the service in the UK that provides free medical treatment for everyone and is paid for by the government – The PM of England thanked the NHS staff that cared for him and saved his life.

Non-essential travel – unnecessary travelling to different places/ travel which is not required – All kinds of non-essential travel have been banned in this region by the state government.

OCD – (short for Obsessive-compulsive disorder) a mental disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations (obsessions), and behaviors that drive them to do something over and over (compulsions) – OCD usually starts in late adolescence or the early adult years.

Occurrence – an incident or event – Even the experienced virologists were surprised by the sudden occurrence of the disease.

Outbreak – a time when something suddenly begins, especially a disease or something else dangerous or unpleasant – An outbreak of COVID19 in 2019-2020 changed the world completely.  

Pandemic – an epidemic of disease that has spread across a large region, for instance, multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of people – Coronavirus is an ongoing pandemic that started in China.

Panic attack – the abrupt onset of intense fear or discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes and includes at least four of the following symptoms: palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate, sweating, trembling or shaking – Panic attacks can be quite frightening. 

Paramedic – a person trained to give emergency medical care to people who are seriously ill with the aim of stabilizing them before they are taken to the hospital – The government hopes to have a paramedic on every emergency ambulance.

Persistent – continuing to exist or occur over a prolonged period – Persistent cough may be one of the symptoms of COVID19.  

PPE – (short for personal protective equipment) equipment that will protect the user against health or safety risks at work – The doctors were waiting for sufficient PPEs.

Pre-existing – exist at or from an earlier time – You should inform your doctor of any pre-existing medical condition.

Prevention – the action of stopping something from happening or arising – However, until a safe treatment is identified the focus of care must be prevention.

Propaganda – information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view – Many news channels broadcast only propaganda, and very little information.  

Quarantine – separation, and restriction of the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick – These COVID19 patients will be kept in quarantine for two or more weeks.

Recurrence – the fact of occurring again – This was a drug used to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer.

Relentless – continuing in a determined way without any interruption – Over the past few years, there has been a relentless effort to investigate the recent cyber-attacks around the world.  

Respirator – artificial breathing equipment – The number of respirators provided in the nearby hospitals is not big and the authority has ordered 25 more to cope with the situation.

Respiratory system – the organs that make it possible for you to breathe – COVID19 patients have problems in their respiratory system as the virus affects it most.

Sanitizer – a liquid for washing your hands in order to get rid of harmful bacteria from them – Hand sanitizers are a must for everyone to be safe from COVID19 and other viruses. 

Self-isolation – the act of isolating or separating oneself or itself from others – One great way to prevent the surge of such a contagious disease is self-isolation.

Side-effect – a secondary, typically undesirable effect of a drug or medical treatment – A side-effect of the treatment is that your hair starts to fall out

Social distancing – a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures taken to prevent the spread of any contagious disease by maintaining a physical distance between people and reducing the number of times people come into close contact with each other – Social distancing helps prevent a sharp peak of infections and many countries are now benefiting from it.

Speculation – assumption or theory about something – Making speculations about the outcome can’t solve this problem.

Suppress – forcibly put an end to – It is likely that the pills will suppress the symptom without treating the condition.

Surge – a sudden powerful forward or upward movement – A surge in the sales of sanitizers has been observed in the last couple of months.

Symptom – a physical or mental feature which is regarded as indicating a condition of disease, particularly such a feature that is apparent to the patient – Some common symptoms of COVID19 are fever, tiredness, dry cough and diarrhoea.

Vaccine – a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease – There is no vaccine against COVID19 and medical experts in many countries are working tirelessly to invent one.

Ventilator – an appliance for artificial respiration; a respirator – With relatives’ consent, patients who were close to death were placed on ventilators, enabling their organs to be made available for transplant.

Virologist – an expert of viruses and the diseases caused by them – Our country needs virologists right now.

Vulnerable – exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally – Undeveloped and developing nations are in a vulnerable position during this outbreak.

WHO – (short for World Health Organization) a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health – This week WHO declared the first pandemic, or worldwide spread, of influenza in forty-one years.

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Click here for vocabulary list on ‘Science and Technology’

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