The English word quarantine is derived from the Latin: quadraginta; and the Italian: quaranta, both meaning 40. A period of 40 days quarantine stems from the mid 1300s, when the Bubonic Plague, the “Black Death,” swept across Europe. Laws were imposed by cities in Italy and Croatia which issued 30-day periods of quarantine, and later 40 days, to ships arriving from plague-infected areas, and which were suspected of harboring contagious crews and passengers, or foods and livestock.
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