The novel coronavirus infection, COVID-19, was declared a ‘pandemic’ on 11th March 2020 by The WHO’s Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He added that this pandemic was different from the past outbreaks in that this one could be controlled.
Till date, there have been over 415,000 confirmed cases across 196 countries worldwide (check the latest numbers here). We understand the science behind why it is being transmitted so quickly amongst humans: it seems to be “stickier” than the other viruses we’ve come across in past outbreaks.
As we’re being flooded by daily updates from around the globe about the new developments for COVID-19, we seem to have lost our calm, and with it, essential details about the disease.
COVID-19 is obviously a huge challenge for us: it has shown us that it can destabilise medical, political, economic and social systems. Despite this, we must remember, there has been no better time than now for us to be able to face such a challenge; we have all the tools available to us, and even if someone does get ill, they are unlikely to lose their life.
Quick Response
After the official announcement on 31st December, it took only a week to isolate and identify the virus that caused severe pneumonia in the people of Wuhan, China. Within the next 3 days, the gene for this virus was sequenced. In contrast, HIV took two years before it was identified in mid-1981. We also know that the novel coronavirus is natural, it is found in bats and has the potential to mutate.
We have already developed tests for the novel coronavirus
Scientists at the department of virology at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital collaborated with other scientists in London, Rotterdam and Hong Kong to develop a robust and effective test for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. This was done in a mere 3 days after the gene for SARS-CoV-2 was published. In contrast, the first precise test for HIV was released in early 1985.
We have learnt that it can be contained
As can be seen in the news recently, China’s lockdown measures, as draconian as they may be, seem to have worked. By 6th March, the number of new cases nationally was lower than 100 per day – down from thousands per day. Furthermore, by 24th March there were less than 50 new cases per day. Several regions in China reported no new cases for over 2 weeks. Some regions even started reopening their schools.
The likelihood that you’ll catch it is low and it can be killed
Washing your hands properly, as you may already know, is the key to stop the spread of the disease. For infected surfaces, liquids such as ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, bleach are all effective against the virus (see complete details on how to prevent COVID-19). In order to really get COVID-19 you would have to be in direct physical contact with someone infected, who may sneeze or cough directly at you, for more than 15 minutes. You will not catch COVID-19 if an infected individual does cough or sneeze at you while walking past you on a street (pedestrian walkway).
Context shows the situation is more hopeful than we may believe
Dare I say, testing positive to coronavirus is actually not the problem. This is in no way meant to downplay the costs COVID-19 has wreaked on people’s lives and livelihoods. However, the issue is what degree of symptoms (if any) a person has, who lives with them, risk factors like their age, whether they can isolate themselves or not etc. Unfortunately, many news and media are not reporting the severity of symptoms shown in a person who has tested positive. Rather, reporting focuses on the loss of life and flashing images (or videos) of people (the less than 5%) that get into critical condition, getting emergency care at a hospital. This “gap” of information not being reported each day creates anxiety in viewers which builds up each day. An image seems to be created of an ‘end of days’ scenario. Which is obviously not the case! Therefore, it is not too surprising people would panic buy groceries, sanitisers and masks (should I wear mask for coronavirus).
The information that a person tests positive for the virus is extremely important. But, we need to remember that this just tells us that a person has been in contact with the novel coronavirus. So if we come in contact with them, for more than 15 minutes, at less than 1 meter distance, and they sneeze at us (and we don’t take care of ourselves by washing our hands properly etc.) then, maybe, we might catch it. On the other hand, we may be next to them for hours, they may not sneeze or cough and we will not contract the virus. For example, any person can be a carrier of the virus yet not display any symptoms for 14 days or more; this means their immune system is fighting off the infection.
It depends on a combination of multiple factors: the distance between you and an infected person; your hygiene practices and others around you; time spent exposed to an infected person (or infected people).
One of the key challenges with SARS-CoV-2 is that it transmits far quicker in comparison to other viruses. We all agree that COVID-19 has been causing widespread affliction. However, we also know from a large study that most infected people (over 80% of them) will either have mild symptoms of fever, dry cough, headaches or moderate symptoms of sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting etc.
There has hardly been any cases of people below 20 years of age testing positive. Children don’t seem affected at all by this virus. The people who have been most affected are above the age of 65 years. Most of the people who have lost their lives are those that have had pre-existing conditions (see our full guide on the novel coronavirus). Much like the flu – albeit a bad case of it – most people recover. Additionally, even those people with severe symptoms such as pneumonia recover as well, given that they get the required treatment in a timely manner (see this link).
People recover from it
The daily count by the John Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering shows that, of the people with moderate to critical symptoms, there have been thousands of people recovering around the world: above 300,000 confirmed people have recovered coronavirus, COVID-19 (link).
Vaccines are quickly being developed
The people who have already contracted COVID-19 and their immune systems fought off the infection will have immunity against COVID-19 if they come in contact with it again. For those that don’t have immunity, the best solution is to get immunised using a vaccine. Once immunised, our bodies will fight off COVID-19 without us even noticing.
A combined effort is being made with the involvement of the WHO, academic biotechnology laboratories and pharmaceutical companies like Moderna, Inovio, Sanofi and Novavax. They are developing preventative vaccines which will soon enter into the testing phase.
In fact, on March 16th, the very first clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine was underway with four volunteers (link here)
There’s always much public anxiety with outbreaks such as this, especially when incomplete information is being thrown at us daily. We must remain calm and understand the context. There are many ways to prevent COVID-19, provided we take the required steps. Much like the recent outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola virus, COVID-19 too will be taken control of very soon.
Please see: This article is meant to inform and isn’t meant to be our usual “positive news” article. Additionally, this article may get updated as and when new information becomes available.
It’s a good read, as was I reading the article, the fear of Coronavirus was waning, I recommend this article to everyone