Countries around the world are scrambling to halt the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
As of July 26, quite 644,500 people worldwide have died of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.
The number of individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 has reached 16 million, consistent with data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. quite nine million people have recovered.
What is Coronavirus?
According to the planet Health Organization (WHO), coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause illnesses starting from the cold to more severe diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and therefore the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
These viruses were originally transmitted from animals to people. SARS, as an example , was transmitted from civet cats to humans while MERS moved to humans from a kind of camel.
Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that haven’t yet infected humans.
The name coronavirus comes from the Latin word corona, meaning crown or halo. Under an microscope , the virus seems like it’s surrounded by a solar corona.
The novel coronavirus, identified by Chinese authorities on January 7 and since named SARS-CoV-2, may be a new strain that had not been previously identified in humans. Little is understood about it, although human-to-human transmission has been confirmed.
What are the Coronavirus symptoms?
According to the WHO, signs of infection include fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. Other signs include loss of taste or smell also as muscle aches.
In more severe cases, it can cause pneumonia, multiple organ failure and even death.
Current estimates of the time period – the time between infection and therefore the onset of symptoms – range from one to 14 days. Most infected people show symptoms within five to 6 days.
However, infected patients also can be asymptomatic, meaning they are doing not display any symptoms despite having the virus in their systems.
How fatal is the Coronavirus?
The number of fatalities from the new coronavirus has overwhelmingly surpassed the toll of the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, which also originated in China.
SARS killed about 9 percent of these it infected – nearly 800 people worldwide and quite 300 in China alone. MERS, which didn’t spread as widely, was more deadly, killing one-third of these infected.
While the new coronavirus is more widespread than SARS in terms of case numbers, the deathrate remains considerably lower at approximately 3.4 percent, consistent with the WHO.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), older people are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 which can end in increased stress during a crisis.
People who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes also seem to be at high risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness.
What measures have been taken to control Coronavirus?
Since March 16, more cases were registered outside China than inside, marking a replacement milestone within the spread of the worldwide pandemic.
The virus has spread from China all round the world, prompting the WHO to label the COVID-19 outbreak an epidemic .
Human-to-human transmissions became evident after cases were recorded with no apparent link to China.
Scientists round the globe are racing to develop a vaccine but have warned it’s unlikely one is going to be available for mass distribution before 2021.
Meanwhile, a growing number of nations have introduced a series of sweeping measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus, including nationwide lockdowns, bans on gatherings, closure of faculties, restaurants, bars, and sports clubs, also as issuing mandatory work-from-home decrees.
International airlines have canceled flights the planet over. Some countries have banned non-citizens from entering their territories, and a number of other more have evacuated their citizens from abroad.
Where did the Coronavirus originate from?
Chinese health authorities are still trying to work out the origin of the virus, which they assert likely came from a seafood market in Wuhan, China where wildlife was also traded illegally.
On February 7, Chinese researchers said the virus could have spread from an infected animal species to humans through illegally-trafficked pangolins, which are prized in Asia for food and medicine.
Scientists have pointed to either bats or snakes as possible sources of the virus.
