Wuhan coronavirus also called 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a a transmittable virus that causes respiratory infection shows close similarities to MERS and SARS.
(updated between Jan. 28. – Oct. 26. 2020)
The virus — first discovered in December 2019 — causes pneumonia in most cases, which is hard to diagnoze anyway. But one of the biggest concern with Wuhan coronavirus is the speed of it’s spread. The count of infected people grows rapidly. Currently, there are more than 43,405,696 infected people (including the cured ones) reported worldwide, includes the new virus centers in US, Brazil, Russia, UK, Spain, Germany, France, China, and India. Compering this outbreak with SARS (2002-2003) there was about 8,000 reported cases with a total of 774 fatalities. The MERS outbreak happened between 2012-2013 in Saudi Arabia, but it’s main characteristics was that it didn’t spread easily from person to person.
The Symptoms
- high fever
- dry cough
- loss of taste or smell
- runny nose
- headache
- strong cough
- breathing difficulties
- sore throat
Virus symptoms day-by-day
- Day 1: High fever on the first day(s). The infected may also experience painin muscles, strong tiredness, and a dry cough (almost identical to traditional flu, except high fever). A small minority of them may have had diarrhea and/or nausea one to two days before.
- Day 5: Difficulty breathing. This is typical symptom if the infected is an older or the immune system of the person is already week.
- Day 7: According to the Wuhan University, this is the time when patients admit to go to the hospital
- Day 8: At this point, patients with severe cases (15%, according to the Chinese CDC) develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), an illness that occurs when fluid builds up the lungs. ARDS is often fatal.
- Day 10: If patients have worsening symptoms, this is the time in the disease’s progression when they’re most likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). These patients have intense pain and appetite loss than patients with milder cases (see fatality rate of the virus below).
- Day 17: This is the usual end date of the disease, when the patient recovers from the virus, and discharged from the hospital (2,5-3 weeks from the first symptoms).
Cure and Treatment
Since it is a viral infection antibiotics aren’t effective at all also the antiviral medicines we have against flu won’t work. Hence the latest developments of researchers the old B.C.G. vaccine, which was developed initially to fight against tuberculosis, seems to add a further layer or protection against coronavirus (younger generations received the vaccine in many countries EU wise).
In the hospitals, the goal is that the infected people’s organs should receive support. Breathing aid, necessary fluid intake and preventing the organ failures. The doctors aim to restore and improve the patients’ immune system in order to achieve recovery. In hospitals the most essential ICU tools are the ventilators in order to keep the lungs working even in critical health state.
There isn’t any Covid-19 vaccine (04.05), but in China and in other countries there were experimental treatments connected to treat HIV, Malaria and Flu. If you are interested in this topic check this topic on Quora. (Please note, never take any drugs without explicit consent of your doctor)
Based on a new article appeared on Science four existing medicines are the best candidates for treatment:
- Remdesivir
- Dexamethasone
- Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine
- Ritonavir/lopinavir + interferon beta
At the moment (see update date at the beginning of this article) we don’t know any working vaccination for the virus.
Coronavirus Precautions
- Stay home.
- Since the virus is really small and survives in air, traditional medical or face masks are not effective, the tiny virus particles simple slip through the masks
- Wash hands often with soap and warm water at least for 25 seconds.
- Don’t touch anything in public places with bare hand. You may raise your hand and put into your eyes or mouth unwillingly.
- Avoid close contact with anyone who has a fever or cough.
- Don’t touch or get close to any animal (wild or kept in open air).
- Don’t eat raw or undercooked animal or finish.
Important questions and myths
How bad is Covid-19 compared to Flu?
Reproduction rate
Flu: 1,3 — Covid-19: 2-2,5
Incubation period
Flu: 1-4 days — Covid-19: 1-14 days
People require treatment in hospital
Flu: 2% — Covid-19: 19%
How long does Covid-19 last on surfaces?
- Air: 3 hours (after a cough)
- Paper, cardboard: 24 hours
- Plastic, mobile glass, stainless-steel, door handles: 2-3 days
- Copper, and copper covered surfaces: 2-3 hours (it seems that Coronavirus doesn’t like this material)
What seems to be clear that 60-75% alcohol containing fluids kill the virus within a minute, this is why it is perfect for cleaning purposes. It is also likely that traditional (old style) soaps are also effectively kill the virus.
In terms of weather, higher temperature may result a quicker disintegration of the virus’ RNA. Only temparature above 60°C (and more than 30 minutes) could kill directly the virus (this is also the case with SARS virus).
(Source: BBC)
Do hot and humid climates or cold weather, like snow, kill the virus?
Neither of them.
Packages from China can infect you
Due to long travel distance (up to 3 days) the virus particles couldn’t survive on these surfaces (see above).
Garlic and vitamin C can help protect from the virus
Both are good for your health but couldn’t prevent an infection.
UV lamps are just perfect for disinfecting your hands
UV do kill many pathogens, but it is not advisable to use UV lamps to sterilize your hands or other parts of your skin. Just like sunbathing without suncream, this can, and usually will cause skin irritation.
The virus only affects older people
That is completely not true, people at all ages are affected, the virus could produce serious symptoms even in case of a 30 year old healthy man or woman. Only the mortality rate seems to be much higher in case of elders. (See below)
Live Pandemic Map
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Powered by The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at JHU
Books
After the important facts, we collected some virus books (non-fiction) which could be useful reads if you want learn more about the outbreak and the pandemic. If you are interested in fiction books, read the our following list article.
Live updates
Because the lack of our resources we couldn’t further update this part of the article
What is the situation Worldwide? (05/27 update)
United States
There are 1,681,418 registered cases in the US, where 384,902 people have recovered from the infection and the death toll is currently 98,929. While the leaders of the states wants to reopen the economy, the pandemic is still strong and the recovering time is long. Today, Nevada announced they want to reopen casinos on the 4th of June. There are several anti-lockdown movements states wise, and people are more likely to get back to their normal daily life, dispite the risk of infection. The unemployment rate is 14,7% based on April’s data (Trading Economics), we are waiting for the update now.
Brazil
The country is the latest epicenter of the pandemic, with 391,222 reported cases and 24,512 deaths. In the news also the weak position of Jair Bolsonaro (president of Brazil) often mentioned. It seems that he has hard time handling the crisis in his country.
Russia
Russia has 370,680 registered cases, hence the epidemic past the peak in the country, there are still 8,000-9,000 new cases every day.
United Kingdom
The only country in Europe where there are significant number of new cases (2,000-4,000 daily). There are 266,602 registered cases in the UK. The virus peaked at the beginning of May in the country.
What is the situation Worldwide? (04/22 update)
United States
There are currently 819,175 cases and 45,343 deaths and 82,973 recovered from the disease. The situation is really serious in the country dispite the help from the government, 6.65 million people file for unemployment aid in the US. People are lining up for free food opportunities countrywise, the people are in trouble, not just in the US, but across Europe and worldwide.
It seems that the aid coming from the counties aren’t giving enough support for firms to get through over the months of the pandemic. Fiscial aids are coming to people and companies, but these supports are much less than expected from the people. Hence the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is still at 23,018 which is only 22% lower than it was at peak 29,551 (February).
Spain, Italy
In both countries the peak of the pandemic is over, but there are still many cases reported in these countries (204,178 cases in Spain and 183,957 cases in Italy).
Turkey
Unfortunately a new epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic with 95,591 reported cases and 2,259 fatalities.
Russia
The cases numbers quickly raised in the country currently there are 52,763 cases.
Brazil
The latin american country has also 43,368 reported cases the time of the update.
What is the situation Worldwide? (04/05 update)
United States
The registered case numbers almost tripled in one week reaching the high of 312,000 patients and the current death toll is 8,452. The virus spread countrywise no states are examption of the epidemic. The siutation is very bad in states New York, California and Washington.
Spain
Spain’s coronavirus death toll shows signs of flattening, but the current situation in the country’s health system critical. Currently there was 11,700 deaths due the virus infections. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced that the country’s state of alarm, which demands strict limits on people’s movements and continues the closure of schools and most businesses, will extend for a another two weeks, until April 26.
Italy
Italy coronavirus deaths passed 15,000 but intensive care numbers drop for first time. Some 1,238 people in Italy have recovered from the coronavirus, which means the country’s total recovery number now stands at 20,996.
What is the situation Worldwide? (03/29 update)
United States
The rise of infected people started to rise rapidly, now with 120,000 infected people The United States became the biggest epicenter of the pandemic. Trump considers to put 3 states into quarantine. A new 5 minutes virus test have been announced, but the test numbers are still lower than it would be necessary.
Italy
92,000 cases reported today, and the peak of the pandemic is still not reached. With more than 800 death just today, coronavirus death toll raised over 10,000 in the country. The lockdown is still in effect.
Spain
The case numbers almost tripled in the last week, with 72,000 reported cases in the country. It is said the overall damage of the virus will be even bigger than Italy.
Germany, France
Both countries have similar number, but thanks to higher test numbers Germany have a clearer view about the infected people in the country. Currently there are 57,000 confirmed cases in Germany and 38,000 in France.
United Kingdom, Switzerland
In both countries the spread of virus is very bad, we recorded more than 17,000 cases in the UK and 14,000 in Switzerland.
What is the situation Worldwide? (03/23 update)
Italy
59,000 reported cases, a lot of countries including China is helping in this decestating situation for the country. The country is complete lockdown.
United States
US jumped into the 2nd place of the active coronavirus cases worldwide with 35,000 cases. The situation is critical in New York, the numbers are rising in California and even in Florida. National Guard has been deployed to three states to fight coronavirus as millions face with lockdown.
Spain
Spain became the second epicenter of the virus in Europe, the current case count is 29,900.
Germany
Hence there are a lot of infected people (26,000) in the country, the mortality rate remained at a very low level (94 deaths).
Iran
We receive less information from Iran, but the confirmed case number raised to 21,000 to this date.
France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austira, Netherlands, Middle-European countries
The case numbers reached a certain level also in these countries:
- France: 16,000
- Switzerland: 7,700
- Belgium: 3,400
- Austira: 3,600
- Netherlands: 4,200
- Portugal: 1,600
- Denmark: 1,500
These countries’ health organizations are under heavy pressure and people face with partial or complete lockdown at the moment.
Latin America
The case numbers are rising rapidly:
- Brazil: 1,600
- Ecuador: 789
- Argentina: 266
- Chile: 632
What is the situation Worldwide? (03/20 update)
Italy
The official case number reached 41,000 and it still raises rapidly. Hence the complete lockdown started on the 11th of March, the disease still has not peaked. The death rate of the infected people seems to be the highest in this country. People could leave their home with the official form available on the website of the Ministry. Without the filled out document people risk 3 months of imprisonment.
Spain
Currently the second biggest epicenter of the Coronavirus in the EU with 18,000 reported cases.
Germany
Dispite the restrictions in the country the case number (16,200) reached a new high.
US
There is still regional restrictions in the country, which are similar to the European limitation. The case number is 14,200 at the moment.
France
10,800 reported cases, with 108 new death in the last 24 hours.
Switzerland
4,100 confirmed cases.
What is the situation Worldwide? (03/16 update)
Europe
More and more EU states are closing their borders, public schools, and restrict the opening hours of stores.
The situation became really rough EU wise almost every West and Mid European country is part of the pandemic. Some of the countries with the highest case numbers:
- Italy: 24,700
- Spain: 9,400
- Germany: 6,600
- France: 5,300
- Switzerland: 2,200
- UK: 1,500
- Netherlands: 1,400
- Norway: 1,300
- Sweden: 1,100
- Belgium: 1,050
- Austria: 1,000
US
American face with new shutdowns (closing bars, schools) as coronavirus spreads constantly in the country. Hence the death toll is low (less than 70 people) the county leaders handle the situation very seriously. From economical point of view the major concern is the crash of stock markets, as DOW Industrial Average decreased from 29,232 (Feb. 18) to 21,408 (Mar. 16) in the last month.
Latin America
Latin American countries announced partial lockdown amid Coronavirus. The infection numbers are still low in these countries (Brazil 200, Chile 155, Argentina 56, Columbia 54) but the virus definitely entered in these regions.
What is the situation Worldwide? (03/13 update)
Europe
The virus spreads intensively in the Europe, new significant number of infections reported from Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands and Austria. Cases between 400–800 in each country.
The situation in Italy, Germany, France and Spain is getting worse.
US
Americans face drastic limits on public life as schools, theme parks, events shut down. No flights are allowed from Europe. Currently in the US there are 1,660 reported cases.
What is the situation Worldwide? (03/11 update)
Wuhan
China says disase curbed in Wuhan, the state also shuts down 16 temporary “coronavirus” hospitals in Hubei.
Italy
The main pandemic centerpoint of Europe. Today more than 12,000 infected people countriwise. Austria and other countries are already closed their borders. Based on the current numbers the deat rate of the disease is extremely high with 6%. No schools no events, the streets became empty.
Iran
As outlanders we are completely blind in terms of the concrete situation in the country. Iran’s vice president and two ministers infected by coronavirus, the epidemic numbers aren’t even nearly correct. Officially there are 9,000 infected people in the country, but the actual number seems to be much higher.
South Korea
Korea still reports new cases 240 in the last 24 hours. Currently there are 7,750 reported cases. The deat rate of the virus is under 1% in this region.
Spain
Spain surpassed the numbers of Germany and France within a week. There are 2,270 reported cases in the country.
Germany, France
There are 2,200+ cases in France (48 deaths) and 1,900+ cases in Germany. Both countries have already introduced certain limitations in order to stop the spread of the virus. The air traffic is limited, not only in France but also EU wise since a lot of airlines cancel its’ flights to the different destinations.
What is the situation in Wuhan, Beijing and Worldwide? (03/06 update)
Italy
In Italy several regions are in quarantine, the infections number is above 3,800. All schools and universities will remain closed until further notice.
Iran
In Iran the authorities haven’t ordered quarantine so the infection spreads rapidly (up to 4,700 infected people), the situation is dramatic in this region, since the medical preparedness is much lower than in Italy or China.
China
Wuhan’s authorities completely closed the whole city. No public transportation, and it isn’t allowed to leave the city. All Wuhan flights have been canceled. The stop of transportation China mainland wise was so dramatic that the air started cleaning from the pollution.
Wuhan closed makeshift hospital as new coronavirus cases in China drop sharply in March. Currently there are 80,600 confirmed cases in China.
Fatality Rate
In order to put this in context let’s see some historical data:
- SARS fatality rate 9-15% (50% over 64 years) – Data from WHO
- MERS fatality rate 20-35% – source
- COVID-19 fatality rate estimated between 1-3,4% (WHO)
Fatality Rate per age
80+ years old – 14.8% (21.9% in confirmed cases)
70-79 years old – 8.0%
60-69 years old – 3.6%
50-59 years old – 1.3%
40-49 years old – 0.4%
30-39 years old – 0.2%
20-29 years old – 0.2%
10-19 years old – 0.2%
0-9 years old no fatalities
(Source: Worldometers)