From Sahih Bukhari (Hadith 3474):
Narrated `Aisha:(the wife of the Prophet) I asked Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) about the plague. He told me that it was a Punishment sent by Allah on whom He wished, and Allah made it a source of mercy for the believers, for if one in the time of an epidemic plague stays in his country patiently hoping for Allah's Reward and believing that nothing will befall him except what Allah has written for him, he will get the reward of a martyr
Reference: Bukhari 3474