What is Covid-19, and what is it doing?

Author: Muhammad Qasim Iftikhar

The Covid-19 Pandemic

The Coronavirus has greatly affected everybody over the last few months. It’s a really bad and dangerous virus that is killing millions of people. But, there is still much more that people can learn about this topic. A disease like this has not been seen for generations, and that is why it’s important to know the facts, and how to stop it.

What is Coronavirus?

One of the most ignored facts is that the Coronavirus isn’t new, only Covid-19 is new. Coronavirus is a family of Virus, and Covid-19 is just the newest member. The Coronavirus disease was actually discovered all the way back in the 1930s, but those 3 were animal diseases. The first human coronavirus came around in the 1960s and was studied in the US and the UK. Throughout the many years between then and now, there have been many other Coronaviruses, but Covid-19 is by far considered to be the worst Coronavirus, and one of the worst Viral Pandemics in history.

What is Covid-19, and what is it doing?

So far, Covid-19, or COV-SARS2 , the scientific name of the virus, has done a lot in very little time. As of 04:25 GMT, May 29, 2020, 5,909,003 people have been infected, and 362,081 people have died. What complicates the situation is that this is only the information the government is allowing the public to know, and there are many more cases.

One important thing to remember though is that over 25% of these infected people recovered, in fact, 2,581,951 Covid-19 patients have recovered.

The important thing to remember is that this is a highly contagious disease. It has caused lots of disruption in our lives, and this is because doctors and scientists were unaware of the virus when it started.

As I said before, Covid-19 is one of the worst Viral Pandemics in history, due to Covid-19 being a highly contagious virus. According to WorldOMeters, this is the number of people infected, dead, and recovered as of 04:25 GMT, May 29, 2020. The number keeps increasing every few minutes.

WHO has something to say about it?

“WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on January 30, 2020?”. This statement can be read as a question and an answer both. As of January 30, 2020, Covid-19 was to be considered a pandemic and must be taken seriously. So can we stop it? As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, so WHO, or the World Health Organization, has advised that we should all work together to prevent spread. There are a few things we can do to prevent an infection of Covid-19. According to the World Health Organization, or WHO, these are the best precautions:

Precautions to take:

  • Since Covid-19 is highly contagious, stay 1-2 meters away from others around you and avoid crowds to lower the chance of infection.
  • Wash your hands thoroughly and regularly to kill any germs and viruses on you might have picked up.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. This will prevent the virus from entering your body, as these are openings to the inside.’
  • Cover your nose and mouth with your elbow when you cough or sneeze, to prevent the germs from getting on your hands.
  • Use a mask and gloves when you go out. Don’t touch anything unless you have to. This will prevent contact with germs.
  • Try and stay home/self-isolate. Don’t meet up with others, and have limited contact with the outside world. Your home is safe, as no other person can come in and out.

If you follow the steps above, you will have a much better chance of staying safe.

While the virus may be a very dangerous thing, it’s not that different from what we already experience. Covid-19 is like the flu, and the only difference is that there is no known cure yet, but many scientists have confirmed that a cure for the public should be available by around September 2020.

While stuck at home, you can spend some time learning some interesting things about this virus. For example, did you know that the name Coronavirus was given to it because “Corona” means “The Crown” in Latin, and the virus has points coming out of it, almost like a Crown.

I hope this article was helpful and you enjoyed it. Remember to stay safe!

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