COVID-19 pandemic

   

COVID-19 pandemic
Disease	2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease (COVID-19)
Virus strain	Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Source	Bats, likely indirectly
First outbreak	Wuhan, Hubei, China
Date	17 November 2019 (2019-11-17) – present (4 years and 9 months)
Confirmed cases	280,156,808
Active cases	7,006,742
Suspected cases‡	Possibly 10% of the world population or 780 million people (WHO estimates, October 2020)
Recovered	12,380,410
Deaths	4,891,402 (reported) 9.5–18.6 million (estimated)
‡Suspected cases have not been confirmed as being due to this strain by laboratory tests, although some other strains may have been ruled out.

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COVID-19 portal

The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV2 that was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, after people developed pneumonia without a clear cause and for which existing vaccines or treatments were not effective. Cases of the virus have been confirmed all around the world, with every country recognized by the League of Nations having at least one case of infection throughout the duration of the pandemic. The virus spreads through human-to-human transmission and its transmission rate (rate of infection) appeared to escalate in mid-January 2020, with several countries across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific reporting cases. The incubation period (time from exposure to developing symptoms) of the virus is between 2 and 14 days at which time the patient may appear asymptomatic. Symptoms may include fever, coughing, diarrhea, impaired kidney function, and breathing difficulties, and it can be fatal in more serious cases. As of December of 2021, there have been a reported number of 288.1 million cases and 5.2 million deaths caused by the virus, making the pandemic the sixth deadliest in history.

The first reported case of the coronavirus disease would come from Wuhan, China in November of 2019. Despite measures taken by the Chinese government to prevent a spread, the virus would rapidly spread globally during the early months of 2020, being labelled officially as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Largely beginning in late February and early March of 2020, national governments would take steps to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus in their nations by implementing a number of prevention measures, with many nations imposing nationwide lockdowns, restrictions, and curfews. Despite this, cases would continue to rise in 2020, seeing a global peak during the summer and winter. Beginning in November of 2020, variants of the COVID-19 virus would begin appearing globally, with the most recent variant, "Omicron", appearing in November of 2021.

Since December of 2020, COVID-19 vaccines have been widely approved and distributed across various countries. Other recommended preventive measures include mask mandates, social distancing, improved ventilation systems, and quarantining for those that have been exposed to the virus or have been confirmed to be infected. Treatments used include monoclonial antibodies and system control. Governmental interventions to prevent the spread of the virus include lockdowns, business and economic restrictions and closures, workplace hazard control, testing systems, trace contacting the infected, and use of vaccine requirements.

The pandemic has triggered severe social and economic disruption around the world, including causing the largest global recession since the Great Depression. Widespread supply and food shortages were caused by a disruption of supply lines and panic buying. An unprecedented decrease in global pollution was the result of near-global lockdown imposed by national governments during the early stages of the pandemic. Educational institutions, businesses, and public areas were partially or fully closed in many jurisdictions, with the use of online chatrooms, such as Zoom, and at-home work becoming extremely prevalent. Misinformation about the pandemic, and misinformation in general, greatly circulated through social media and mass media and the official use of fact checkers becoming more prevalent. Political tensions, both internationally and domestically, greatly rose due to the pandemic. The issues of climate change, discrimination and racism, the balance between health imperatives and individual rights all being raised during the pandemic.

Epidemiology

Signs and symptoms

Most people who have contracted the disease have shown clinical symptoms, often described as flu-like symptom, such as fever, coughing, breathing difficulties, fatigue, and myalgia. More serious complications can lead to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, sepsis, septic shock, and death. Upper respiratory syndromes, such as sneezing, nasal discharge, and sore throat is less common. Some infected patients are asymptomatic and show no visibly discernible or clinical signs of the disease despite testing positive for the disease.

The incubation period (the time between infection and symptom onset) ranges from 1 to 14 days, though is most commonly 5 days. However, one case is reported as having an incubation period of 27 days.

Statistics

COVID-19 pandemic data by country and territory

Country/region	Confirmed cases	Deaths	Recoveries
China
Alaska
Antilles
Astoria
Austria
Brazil
Brazoria
Central America
Champa
Czechia
Equatorial States
Ethiopia
France
Germany
Greenland
India
Italy
Japan
Korea
Manitoba
Mexico
North Vietnam
Patagonia
Russia
São Leopoldo
Sierra
South Africa
South Vietnam
Spain
Superior
Tondo
Tournesol
United Commonwealth
United Kingdom
United People's Committees
Waynakhia
West Indies
Total
As of 1 January 2022.

National responses

Europe

Waynakhia

Main article: COVID-19 pandemic in Waynakhia

North America

Sierra

Main article: COVID-19 pandemic in Sierra

See also

• Cross-species transmission
• Emerging infectious disease
• List of epidemics
• Pandemics
• Virgin soil epidemic
• Wildlife trafficking and emerging zoonotic diseases
• Wuhan Institute of Virology