Coronavirus (COVID-19): An insight

The newly arrived coronavirus has come as a turmoil. You see newspapers, news channels, social media all have the top stories highlighting the frenzy world. A small virus has changed the world landscape.

What is COVID-19?

COVID-19 is referred as the term for the infection resulting from the novel coronavirus also known as nCoV, official name being Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

So, SARS-CoV2 is the virus that causes the disease, COVID-19; both officially named on February 11, 2020. The virus was named by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) on the basis of its genetic structure. And the disease obtained its name as COVID-19 by WHO in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). 

Why COVID- 2019? 

The disease caused by Coronavirus has come to be known as COVID-19(Cornoavirus Disease). So, people infected with cornovirus or the positive cases will said to have been diagnosed with COVID-19. This coronavirus was known to be found in animals. But, its first incidence of transmission in humans was recognized in 2019. So, COVID-19. And ever since then, the virus spread took to an alarming acceleration taking toll of hundred thousands of lives.

Why SARS-CoV-2?

Is it not the first time that coronavirus hit the human race? Yes, exactly. The new nCOV-2 is a part of the brood of long known coronavirus. This family of known viruses has been known to cause mild respiratory infections. In 2003, a genetically similar coronavirus was responsible for the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). So, the number 2 has been assigned to the newly arrived second member supposedly belonging to the same family. 

Both the viruses might belong to the same family; though related, yet they are different.

Another member belonging to the same family was responsible for respiratory illness called Middle East Respiratory Infection (MERS).

SARS-CoV-2 has approximately 70% similar genetic sequence and viral structure as that of SARS-CoV and has nearly 40% similarity with that of MERS-CoV.

Why the word novel?

Novel Coronavirus is what you may have heard many times while looking through several sources of information of the new hit. Novel as a term describes something new, unknown before. The word novel here has been used because it was unknown to have been in humans before.

What is Wuhan Virus?

Wuhan virus was a temporary name by which nCOV-19 was known until it was officially named as SARS-CoV-2 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Since the first case of SARS-CoV-2 was first reported from Wuhan located in the Hubei province of China, the world started calling it the Wuhan Virus.

To ridicule, people still call it sometimes the China virus or the Chinese virus. A little mockery is tolerable but Chinese people are being treated real bad across the world as if they brought the virus with them. This ill-treatment of Chinese and look-alike people as if they are the virus generators, carriers and replicators is condemn able.

As of today, the global pandemic has enveloped the whole world while China survived it with some fatalities, but maximum people recovered. And numbers in other countries are skyrocketing.

Is it "Survival of the fittest'?

With no currently full-proof known and well recognized treatment for the disease, the virus is taking human lives in its grasp every single second. "Survival of the fittest" is the jungle rule. But, witnessing this COVID-19 scare on the global scale, the statement holds true even for humans. And otherwise also, humans evolved out of the same theory. It is not the jungle rule but life's rule, the rule of 'Evolution'.I intend to use this phrase here because as per the recent surveys, the people who died after contracting this deadly virus were the ones with the weakest immune systems or the ones with existing co-morbid conditions. They belonged to the weaker section of society in medical terms and the virus came just to hit the mark.

Even the researches have suggested that better is the immune system, higher is the recovery rate from COVID-19.

Case Zero of COVID-2019:

Case Zero here means the first person to get this contagious virus transmitted and develop illness as a consequence.

As per the South Morning China Post, the case zero has been suggested to be a 55-year old man

Symptoms:

nCOV-2 may or may not show symptoms at all. Some people who contracted the virus were completely asymptomatic. While others have shown a range of symptoms from mild to severe. To critically ill patients, this virus has been fatal.

To be summed up, the known symptoms of nCOV-2 are as follows:

• Fever
• Shortness of breath
• Dry cough
• Sniffles 

With the new cases coming up everyday, research on symptoms is ON and we will add them up as and when they are proclaimed.

Aymptomatic people might themselves not show any symptoms but they are the potential carriers. One such example is children. They have good immune system. They rarely show symptoms if infected by SARS-CoV-2 as of what is known today. But, they can carry the virus along and transmit to people coming in their contact.

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