Coronavirus Outbreak – A Recent Report from Around the Globe

What is Coronavirus? What are the symptoms of Coronavirus? How does it spread and when should I visit a doctor? To all your unanswered questions, here is a brief article spreading awareness about the widely spreading virus.

What is Coronavirus/Covid-19?

Covid-19 is a group of viruses from the Coronavirus family that causes illness of the respiratory system from the common cold to MERS-Cov(Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS-Cov(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). The disease caused by Coronavirus is entitled to Covid-19. It is a novel virus that was not identified before.

Source of Coronavirus:

The Coronavirus is transmitting from animals to humans, they are zoonotic. Studies found that MERS-Cov transmitted from camels to humans and the SARS-Cov from civet cats to humans.

Research also found that there are many other Coronaviruses in animals but those have not infected any human yet. The Covid-19 or Coronavirus disease that is believed to be started from Wuhan, China infected those who were either working in the Hunan seafood market or had shopped there regularly.

As the wet market is supposed to be the starting point of the Coronavirus outbreak the market has been closed on 1st January 2020.

What are the Symptoms of Coronavirus/Covid-19?

Covid-19 can cause pneumonia.

The common symptoms of Coronavirus or Covid-19 are fever, dry cough, tiredness, breath shortness, and difficulty in breathing.

Some infected persons may experience nasal congestion, aches, and pains, sore throat, runny nose or diarrhea.

These symptoms are very mild initially and with time they appear to be strong and visible. In some cases, the symptoms don’t even appear on the surface, but the patient just feels unwell. In the worst case, the patient may have pneumonia, kidney failure, respiratory syndrome, and even death sometimes. People suffering from Coronavirus needs special treatment, the recovery rate is only 80% of the infected persons. 1 out of 6 people gets seriously ill with difficulty in breathing. Neither anti-biotic nor anti-viral medicines work against Coronavirus. People with poor Immune System are likely to die with the virus infection.

Elderly, old people who have health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease are likely to have a serious illness. 2% of patients who have other diseases have died. Hence people having fever, breathing problems must definitely seek medical treatment.

How does Coronavirus spread?

Animals are said to be the source of Coronavirus, and now the disease has infected humans. It is transmitting from one person to another through respiratory droplets that a person exhales out while sneezing or coughing or just breathing. The major problem is that even an infected person doesn’t show symptoms at an early stage. People who are diagnosed with negative results once are found with positive reports after a few days.

When should I visit a doctor if I am having a Cough?

If you have recently been to the places affected by Coronavirus, you should definitely take these cautions:

• Stay indoors
• Try to avoid contact with other humans if you have flu or cough
• Inform health departments that you have recently traveled to the affected areas

How to keep yourself safe from Coronavirus?

1. Never forget to wash your hands with water and soap at least for 15-30 seconds before eating and preparing food.
2.  Hand wash and use of sanitizer are recommended after coughing, sneezing or nose blowing.
3.  Do not handshake with every other person who is coughing or sneezing, you might get infected.
4.  Do not touch your eyes, mouth, nose or face with dirty unwashed hands. You can wear masks to keep yourself safe.
5.  When you feel unwell, go visit a doctor.
6. Always use tissue and handkerchief while sneezing and cover yourself while coughing with tissue, and dispose of them after use.

Can Coronavirus transmit from one human to another?

China’s National Health Commission has recently confirmed that the virus is transmitted from one person to another and there are reports of such human-to-human virus transmission elsewhere.

How many humans have been affected and died by Coronavirus?

As of today, March 2, 2020, the Coronavirus Outbreak is estimated to affect 87,000 people globally. With 80,026 people confirmed from China. Out of them, 3000 people have died.

The Coronavirus is known to spread in at least 30 other countries. Even the US has suffered from 2 death records. Japan is affected worse with 850 cases recorded and 4 deaths (691 cases from the cruise). Other such countries that are affected by Coronavirus are Italy with 1100 cases (29 deaths), South Korea with 4212 cases (22 deaths), Philippines, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

What is the Treatment of Coronavirus (Covid-19)?

The permanent treatment of Coronavirus has not been discovered yet. The approach doctors are using is to cure clinical symptoms such as fever, cough, breathing problems, etc. and oxygen therapy, antivirals, fluid management like supportive care is being used for infected persons.

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