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What is Coronavirus?
Coronavirus or CoV, is a large family of viruses known to be causing respiratory illness, ranging from common cold to severe cases, like the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).
A new strain, COVID-19, discovered in 2019 has not been identified in humans ever before. Declared as a pandemic by the WHO, COVID-19 is a form of coronavirus causing diseases in animals. The virus, however, possesses the spillover power, to jump from animals to humans, causing cold-like symptoms.
COVID-19 affects your lungs and airways, causing symptoms like runny nose, sore throat, cough, high fever. In severe cases, it causes pneumonia or breathing difficulties, and ultimately death.
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Types of Coronavirus strains |
MERS-CoV |
SARS-CoV |
COVID-19 |
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Full Name |
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome |
Coronavirus disease |
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Source of Transmission into humans |
Dromedary Camels (from Bats) |
Civet cats (from Bats) |
Live animal market (Still Unclear) |
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Fatality Rate (can change as the virus mutates) |
30% |
10% |
3% |
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Outbreak Year |
2012 |
2002-2003 |
Late 2019 |
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Infection origin |
Middle East Asia (Saudi Arabia) |
Guangdong, China |
Wuhan, China |
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Worldwide reported cases |
2500 in 27 countries |
>8000 cases in more than 30 countries |
>190,000 cases in 162 countries |
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Total deaths |
853 |
774 |
>7989 (till date) |
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Current status (in 2020) |
Still active, but the number of reported cases has decreased |
No new cases have been reported since 2004, however, it has reappeared four times, three times from lab accidents and once in Southern China |
The virus is spreading rapidly with no signs of containment |
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Disease transmission |
Through respiratory droplets or aerosols from an infective person |
Through respiratory droplets produced when an infective person sneezes or coughs |
Through secretions and respiratory droplets from infective person. The role of aerosols in its transmission is still unknown |
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Incubation period |
5 days |
2-7 days |
5.6 days (as per a Chinese study) |
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Treatment |
No vaccine is available |
Experimental vaccines are under development |
No vaccine is available |
100-Year Pandemic History: A Curse For The World
Amidst all the concerns and the rising number of cases for coronavirus, people have started talking about the curse of the 20s, pandemics course of such scary infections history. The theory goes on like this.
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1720 |
THE GREAT PLAGUE OF MARSEILLE It was the last noteworthy European outbreak of the bubonic plague. More than 100,000 people were killed in the city of Marseille, France. |
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1820 |
THE FIRST CHOLERA EPIDEMIC The first cholera outbreak occurred in 1820 somewhere in Asia. About 100,000 deaths were registered and the major affected countries were Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. The major cause of this infection was the consumption of water infested with killer bacterium. |
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1920 |
THE SPANISH FLU The world faced the first influenza pandemic between 1918-20. It was the first of the two pandemics to involve H1N1 influenza virus. It infected about half a billion population and killed more than 100 million people. It has been stated as the deadliest of all the pandemics in the world history. |
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2020 |
CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) A global pandemic, COVID-29 has sparked the alarm throughout the world. The virus is spreading rapidly and has infected more than 190,000 people around the world. The citizens of 167 countries have fallen prey to this zoonotic strain of virus and there is a rapid rise in the number of confirmed cases. |
History of Coronavirus: The Timeline As It Happened
Coronavirus was first discovered in 1931. Subsequently, the first coronavirus strain (HCoV-229E) was isolated from humans in 1965. However, until the outbreak of SARS-CoV, in 2002, only two human coronavirus strains were known.
These were HCoV-229E and HCoV-OC43.
There is a total of three groups of coronaviruses in existence:
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CoV- Group 1 |
CoV- Group 2 |
CoV- Group 3 |
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1a includes transmissible gastroenteritis virus of swine, porcine respiratory CoV, Canine CoV, feline CoV, ferret and mink CoV, and spotted hyena CoV.
1b consists of certain human CoV like the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, and bat CoV. |
2a includes mouse hepatitis virus, bovine CoV, sialodacryoadenitis virus of rats, porcine hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis virus, canine respiratory CoV, and other human coronaviruses.
2b includes human SARS coronavirus and civet cat, raccoon dog, and horseshoe bat coronaviruses |
This includes avian infectious bronchitis virus, turkey coronavirus, and several potential but still largely uncharacterized new species from ducks, geese, and pigeons.
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HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63
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HCoVOC43 and HCoV-HKU1 |
No human CoV exists
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Common founding’s are:
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December 31, 2020 |
Pneumonia-like virus hits Wuhan The port city of Wuhan, a port city of 11 million people in the Hubei province. The nature of the virus is unknown. China alerts WHO about the situation. |
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January 7, 2020 |
Officials identified the new virus named 2019-nCoV. It is found out that this virus belongs to the coronavirus family, which also includes a 2002 epidemic of SARS in China and common cold. |
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January 11, 2020 |
China confirms its first death from coronavirus. The death is said to be due to pneumonia-like symptoms. |
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January 13-16, 2020 |
The virus starts infecting neighboring countries such as Thailand and Japan. The people infected have visited the live animals market of Wuhan. |
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January 23, 2020 |
China places Wuhan under quarantine. The entire city is locked down to limit the spread of the disease. Also, there is an increase in the number of death tolls in China.
The WHO doesn’t constitute it as a public emergency of international concern. The officials say that there is no evidence of the virus spreading between humans outside of China or those who haven’t visited the Wuhan market. |
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January 28, 2020 |
Japan and the US start evacuating their citizens from Wuhan.
The number of cases reported in Germany, France, and Australia also increase |
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January 30, 2020 |
With the continued rise in the death rate, the shutdown on Chinese provinces, and new confirmed cases in the US, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea, WHO declares coronavirus as a global emergency.
Meanwhile, India and Philippines confirmed their first cases with one infected patient in each country. |
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January 31, 2020 |
Russia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom confirm their first cases of the virus. |
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February 2, 2020 |
First death outside of China reported. Philippines confirms its first death of a 22-year-old Chinese man who had traveled from Wuhan to Manila. |
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February 3, 2020 |
The cruise ship, Diamond Princess is quarantined in Japan after cases of coronavirus have been confirmed on board. |
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February 5, 2020 |
WHO releases a statement saying that there is no effective treatment for the coronavirus. |
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February 7, 2020 |
Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who was the first to announce concerns over coronavirus dies.
China introduces prison sentences for any citizen breaching with the quarantine rules.
Chinese researches suggest that pangolin may be link in animal to human transmission. |
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February 9, 2020 |
The number of deaths in China surpass that of the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic.
An investigative team from WHO departs for China. |
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February 11, 2020 |
WHO renames the virus as COVID-19 |
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February 13, 2020 |
North Korea imposes a month-long quarantine for all the foreign visitors and those suspected with COVID-19. |
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February 14, 2020 |
France reports Europe’s first death from the COVID-19 virus. |
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February 19, 2020 |
Iran reports two death from coronavirus only hours after confirming its first cases |
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February 20, 2020 |
Russia bans the entry of Chinese citizens into the country. |
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February 23, 2020 |
Many countries close their borders with Iran as the number of infections are on a surge in the country. |
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March 6, 2020 |
European and US stock markets slump after experiencing the worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. |
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March 8, 2020 |
Italy places the state of Lombardy and 14 other areas under strict quarantine. |
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March 9, 2020 |
Iran releases 70,000 prisoners because of the virus outbreak without specifying whether they need to return to jail or not. |
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March 11, 2020 |
WHO declares coronavirus a pandemic. |
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March 12, 2020 |
India reports its first death of a 76-year-old man. |
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March 13, 2020 |
India reports its second death of a 69-year old woman from Delhi. |
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March 17, 2020 |
India reports its third death of a 64-year-old patient in Mumbai. |
The progression of coronavirus through the human body
The following table states the spread of the infective virus into human body and how it progresses further.
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DAY 1-3 (80% of the patients experience these symptoms) |
The start of the symptoms COVID-19 might start in the upper respiratory tract after the completion of the incubation period ranging from 5-6 days in human body. Patients start feeling feverish and symptoms like cough and sore throat appear by Day 3.
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DAY 4-9 (14% infected patients experience these symptoms) |
Into the lungs The virus reaches the lungs in 3 days and its starts creating difficulty in breathing any day between 4-9 days. Inflammation in the lungs can lead to acute respiratory distress |
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DAY 8-15 (5% of patients need to be rushed to the ICU) |
Into the blood The infections move into the blood and by the end of 15 days, life threatening complications might occur. |
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AFTER 21 DAYS |
Discharged or dead After three weeks, the patient might either be discharged or dead. |
Does sex, age, and underlying conditions have an impact on the vulnerability of a person for the virus?
The death rate specifies the probability of a person dying if infected by the virus.
For factors like the age, sex, and the underlying medical conditions, the following is the death rate figures.
Death Rate = Total number of deaths / total number of all cases
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AGE |
With age, our immune system turns weak and so it is not able to protect us against normal and novel diseases. However, it is, in no way an indication that coronavirus will only infect old people and not young population. Coronavirus can infect person of any age demographic but the recovery from the virus infection is a task of medicines and our immune system.
The following are the death rates for various age groups:
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SEX |
The following is the death rate for the genders.
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PREVIOUS MEDICAL CONDITIONS |
It is true that if the person is suffering from any underlying disease then he/she is more prone to be susceptible to the virus. The following are some medical conditions and their death rates stating that people suffering from any disease needs to take special care.
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The 10 Myths and Facts Associated With Coronavirus
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MYTHS |
FACTS |
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COVID-19 cannot be transmitted in hot and humid areas or climate regions |
Coronavirus can be transmitted in all the areas, including hot and humid climate regions as well. No matter the temperature, it is important for people to adopt protective measures to protect themselves against coronavirus.
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Cold weather and snow can kill coronavirus |
Cold weather or snow cannot kill coronavirus. Since the virus grows and progresses in the human body with a temperature of 37 degree Celsius, the external weather is of no effect to it.
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A hot bath can prevent coronavirus disease |
Although taking a hot bath will drive your stress away, it is not effective to prevent new coronavirus disease. Your normal body temperature is perfect for the growth of the virus and outside temperature won’t matter.
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Coronavirus can also be transmitted through mosquitoes |
Coronavirus is not transmitted through mosquito bites. It is infected from respiratory droplets or aerosols of a patient.
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Hand dryers are effective in killing coronavirus |
Hand dryers are also not effective in killing the COVID-19. You can although rub alcohol-based hand rub, but it is better to dry your hands with paper towels.
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Sterilizing hands with UV lamps will kill the coronavirus |
UV lamps for sterilizing of hands is not a healthy thing to do as UV radiation can cause skin irritation.
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Natural remedies can help in curing COVID-19 |
There is no medicine or vaccine devised or formulated for COVID-19.
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Antibiotics can kill the coronavirus |
Antibiotics cannot be used for killing of coronavirus since it is effective in working against bacteria and not viruses.
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Old people are more prone to be infected by coronavirus and not young people |
Coronavirus can infect people of all ages be it old or young. However, people who have a pre-existing medical condition like asthma, diabetes, and heart disease are more vulnerable to the virus than the others.
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Pneumonia vaccines work against coronavirus |
Vaccines against pneumonia are not protective against coronavirus.
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The State-Wise Cases of Coronavirus in India (as of 18 March, 2020)
The Difference Between Total Cases, Active Cases, and Closed Cases?
Total Cases: This defines the total positive, confirmed, both past and present cases around the world. These include those patients that have recovered, those that are dead, and those that are currently seeking medical aid. The total coronavirus cases around the world is 98,739.
Active Cases: These cases are those patients that have been tested positive for coronavirus, and those that are currently under medical observation. These cases do not include discharged and dead cases. The active coronavirus cases around the world is 107,971.
Closed Cases: These include those cases that are closed, either, the patient has recovered and discharged or the patient is dead. The closed coronavirus cases around the world is 90,768 in which, 82,779 patients had recovered and discharged and 7,989 patients had died.
The Basic Protective Measures Against Coronavirus
The following tips will help everyone to fight back COVID-19 infection. Most of the people experience mild illness and recover but for others, the symptoms are more severe.
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TIPS |
WHY |
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Wash your hands frequently. |
Using soap and alcohol-based hand run kills the virus that maybe on your hands.
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Keep social distance from people |
Keep social distance from people. According to WHO, keep at least 1 meter or 3 feet distance between a healthy person and someone who is coughing and sneezing.
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Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth |
If your hands are contaminated, touching any part of your face transfers the virus into your system. This can make you sick. |
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Follow good respiratory hygiene |
If someone needs to cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with bent elbow or use a tissue and dispose it off immediately. |
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If you have symptoms like fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing seek medical aid |
If you feel unwell, you need to talk with your local health authority. Calling in any healthcare facility will make sure that you are getting the right medical help.
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Stay updated on COVID-19 information. |
Stay informed on the latest developments regarding COVID-19, especially in your area.
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Real Time Data of Corona Virus
