Portal:COVID-19

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The COVID-19 portal

P:COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transmission and life-cycle of SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19.

Several COVID-19 vaccines have been approved and distributed in various countries, which have initiated mass vaccination campaigns. Other preventive measures include physical or social distancing, quarantining, ventilation of indoor spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. The use of face masks or coverings has been recommended in public settings to minimise the risk of transmission. While work is underway to develop drugs that inhibit the virus, the primary treatment is symptomatic. Management involves the treatment of symptoms, supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.

The pandemic has triggered severe social and economic disruption around the world, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. Widespread supply shortages, including food shortages, were caused by supply chain disruption. Reduced human activity saw an unprecedented pollution decrease. Educational institutions and public areas were partially or fully closed in many jurisdictions, and many events were cancelled or postponed during 2020 and 2021. Misinformation has circulated through social media and mass media, and political tensions have intensified. The pandemic has raised issues of racial and geographic discrimination, health equity, and the balance between public health imperatives and individual rights. (Full article)

About the virus

SARS-CoV-2 as seen by a cryo-electron tomography scan.

SARS‑CoV‑2 belongs to the broad family of viruses known as coronaviruses. It is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) virus, with a single linear RNA segment. Coronaviruses infect humans, other mammals, including livestock and companion animals, and avian species. Human coronaviruses are capable of causing illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS, fatality rate ~34%). SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh known coronavirus to infect people, after 229E, NL63, OC43, HKU1, MERS-CoV, and the original SARS-CoV.

Like the SARS-related coronavirus implicated in the 2003 SARS outbreak, SARS‑CoV‑2 is a member of the subgenus Sarbecovirus (beta-CoV lineage B). Coronaviruses undergo frequent recombination. The mechanism of recombination in unsegmented RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 is generally by copy-choice replication, in which gene material switches from one RNA template molecule to another during replication. The SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequence is approximately 30,000 bases in length, relatively long for a coronavirus—which in turn carry the largest genomes among all RNA families. Its genome consists nearly entirely of protein-coding sequences, a trait shared with other coronaviruses. (Full article)

Disease progress

As of 29 November 2022, 641,558,571 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in 6,631,749 reported deaths.^[1]

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Updated November 29, 2022.

COVID-19 pandemic by location^[1]
	Location	Cases	Deaths
	World^[a]	641,558,571	6,631,749
	European Union^[b]	177,001,296	1,174,478
	United States	98,628,566	1,079,477
	India	44,673,293	530,615
	France	37,726,379	158,840
	Germany	36,419,717	157,657
	Brazil	35,149,503	689,442
	South Korea	27,031,319	30,454
	Japan	24,541,816	49,289
	Italy	24,260,660	181,098
	United Kingdom	23,998,172	211,845
	Russia	21,273,541	383,993
	Turkey	16,919,638	101,203
	Spain	13,595,504	115,901
	Vietnam	11,514,865	43,170
	Australia	10,653,896	16,119
	Argentina	9,727,247	130,025
	Netherlands	8,550,114	22,997
	Taiwan	8,278,371	14,276
	Iran	7,559,634	144,633
	Mexico	7,125,176	330,495
	Indonesia	6,653,469	159,735
	Poland	6,351,408	118,306
	Colombia	6,312,657	141,881
	Ukraine	5,642,564	118,402
	Austria	5,550,575	21,189
	Portugal	5,542,265	25,450
	Greece	5,360,506	34,178
	Malaysia	4,988,759	36,657
	Chile	4,912,805	62,407
	Israel	4,718,364	11,845
	Thailand	4,707,244	33,180
	Belgium	4,636,264	33,057
	Canada	4,430,558	47,923
	Switzerland	4,318,881	14,124
	Peru	4,227,446	217,370
	Czech Republic	4,171,244	41,800
	South Africa	4,040,980	102,428
	Philippines	4,034,658	64,608
	Denmark	3,351,498	7,524
	Romania	3,296,834	67,276
	Slovakia	2,649,580	20,729
	Sweden	2,626,686	21,034
	Iraq	2,463,724	25,364
	Serbia	2,422,181	17,374
	Singapore	2,164,689	1,702
	Hungary	2,162,093	48,245
	Hong Kong	2,101,888	10,718
	Bangladesh	2,036,556	29,432
	New Zealand	1,945,234	2,212
	Georgia	1,805,698	16,912
	Jordan	1,746,997	14,122
	Republic of Ireland	1,678,827	8,170
	Pakistan	1,575,146	30,631
	China^[c]	1,524,446	5,233
	Kazakhstan	1,485,635	19,053
	Norway	1,468,663	4,384
	Finland	1,394,254	7,265
	Bulgaria	1,286,872	38,033
	Lithuania	1,274,885	9,432
	Morocco	1,268,440	16,284
	Slovenia	1,254,808	6,930
	Croatia	1,253,087	17,306
	Lebanon	1,220,443	10,736
	Guatemala	1,154,211	19,949
	Tunisia	1,146,991	29,268
	Costa Rica	1,143,597	9,031
	Cuba	1,111,379	8,530
	Bolivia	1,110,766	22,246
	United Arab Emirates	1,044,058	2,348
	Ecuador	1,011,132	35,940
	Nepal	1,000,884	12,019
	Panama	995,726	8,519
	Belarus	994,037	7,118
	Uruguay	993,875	7,537
	Mongolia	992,101	2,134
	Latvia	962,085	6,087
	Saudi Arabia	825,497	9,459
	Azerbaijan	824,245	9,976
	Paraguay	718,164	19,621
	Palestine	703,036	5,708
	Bahrain	696,061	1,536
	Sri Lanka	671,651	16,802
	Kuwait	662,672	2,570
	Dominican Republic	649,834	4,384
	Myanmar	633,196	19,488
	Cyprus	614,237	1,226
	Estonia	608,796	2,781
	Moldova	594,754	11,913
	Venezuela	547,351	5,828
	Egypt	515,645	24,798
	Libya	507,084	6,437
	Ethiopia	494,520	7,572
	Qatar	478,047	685
	Honduras	458,023	11,043
	Armenia	445,737	8,710
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	400,501	16,201
	Oman	399,119	4,628
	North Macedonia	344,710	9,568
	Kenya	341,515	5,684
	Zambia	333,721	4,019
	Albania	333,330	3,594
	Botswana	326,373	2,790
	Luxembourg	306,343	1,158
	Montenegro	283,663	2,789
	Kosovo	272,208	3,202
	Mauritius	271,867	1,034
	Algeria	271,079	6,881
	Nigeria	266,283	3,155
	Zimbabwe	257,893	5,606
	Brunei	253,406	225
	Uzbekistan	246,248	1,637
	Mozambique	230,590	2,224
	Laos	216,660	758
	Iceland	207,101	219
	Kyrgyzstan	206,530	2,991
	Afghanistan	205,802	7,833
	El Salvador	201,785	4,230
	Maldives	185,618	311
	Trinidad and Tobago	185,237	4,266
	Ghana	171,009	1,461
	Namibia	169,946	4,080
	Uganda	169,663	3,630
	Jamaica	152,517	3,399
	Cambodia	138,073	3,056
	Rwanda	132,681	1,467
	Cameroon	123,993	1,965
	Malta	115,775	809
	Angola	104,491	1,923
	Barbados	103,955	564
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	94,204	1,455
	Senegal	88,859	1,968
	Malawi	88,083	2,685
	Ivory Coast	87,885	830
	Suriname	81,228	1,392
	French Polynesia	76,899	649
	New Caledonia	75,258	314
	Eswatini	73,770	1,422
	Guyana	71,584	1,285
	Belize	69,048	688
	Fiji	68,375	878
	Madagascar	67,054	1,411
	Sudan	63,637	4,990
	Mauritania	63,420	997
	Cabo Verde	62,991	412
	Bhutan	62,488	21
	Syria	57,396	3,163
	Burundi	50,778	38
	Seychelles	49,862	298
	Gabon	48,972	306
	Andorra	46,824	156
	Papua New Guinea	45,819	668
	Curaçao	45,559	295
	Aruba	43,568	236
	Tanzania	40,471	845
	Togo	39,328	290
	Guinea	38,153	464
	Isle of Man	38,008	116
	Bahamas	37,476	833
	Faroe Islands	34,658	28
	Lesotho	34,490	706
	Haiti	33,846	860
	Mali	32,758	742
	Cayman Islands	31,194	36
	Saint Lucia	29,692	408
	Benin	27,922	163
	Somalia	27,286	1,361
	Republic of the Congo	25,375	386
	Solomon Islands	24,575	153
	Timor-Leste	23,337	138
	Federated States of Micronesia	22,203	58
	San Marino	22,167	119
	Burkina Faso	21,631	387
	Liechtenstein	20,890	87
	Gibraltar	20,184	110
	Grenada	19,616	237
	Bermuda	18,463	151
	South Sudan	18,348	138
	Tajikistan	17,786	125
	Equatorial Guinea	17,182	183
	Tonga	16,182	12
	Samoa	15,967	29
	Dominica	15,760	74
	Djibouti	15,690	189
	Marshall Islands	15,541	17
	Monaco	15,339	65
	Central African Republic	15,311	113
	Nicaragua	15,232	245
	Gambia	12,586	372
	Vanuatu	11,981	14
	Greenland	11,971	21
	Yemen	11,945	2,159
	Caribbean Netherlands	11,544	38
	Eritrea	10,189	103
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	9,462	116
	Niger	9,434	314
	Antigua and Barbuda	9,106	146
	Comoros	8,941	161
	Guinea-Bissau	8,848	176
	Liberia	8,014	294
	Sierra Leone	7,758	126
	Chad	7,646	194
	British Virgin Islands	7,305	64
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	6,556	46
	Turks and Caicos Islands	6,446	36
	Cook Islands	6,389	1
	Sao Tome and Principe	6,278	77
	Palau	5,785	7
	Nauru	4,621	1
	Anguilla	3,904	12
	Kiribati	3,430	13
	Wallis and Futuna	3,415	7
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	3,248	1
	Tuvalu	2,805	—
	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	2,162	—
	Falkland Islands	1,930	—
	Montserrat	1,403	8
	Macau	797	6
	Vatican City	29	0
	North Korea	1	6
^ Countries which do not report data for a column are not included in that column's world total. ^ Data on member states of the European Union are individually listed, but are also summed here for convenience. They are not double-counted in world totals. ^ Does not include special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau) or Taiwan.

(Full article)

About the symptoms

Symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

The symptoms of COVID-19 are variable depending on the type of variant contracted, ranging from mild symptoms to critical and possibly fatal illness. Common symptoms include coughing, fever, loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia), with less common ones including headaches, nasal congestion and runny nose, muscle pain, sore throat, diarrhea, eye irritation, and toes swelling or turning purple, and in moderate to severe cases breathing difficulties. People with the COVID-19 infection may have different symptoms, and their symptoms may change over time. Three common clusters of symptoms have been identified: one respiratory symptom cluster with cough, sputum, shortness of breath, and fever; a musculoskeletal symptom cluster with muscle and joint pain, headache, and fatigue; a cluster of digestive symptoms with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. In people without prior ear, nose, and throat disorders, loss of taste combined with loss of smell is associated with COVID-19 and is reported in as many as 88% of symptomatic cases. (Full article)

About the spread

COVID-19 is mainly transmitted when people breathe in air contaminated by droplets/aerosols and small airborne particles containing the virus. Infected people exhale those particles as they breathe, talk, cough, sneeze, or sing. Transmission is more likely the more physically close people are. However, infection can occur over longer distances, particularly indoors.

The number of people generally infected by one infected person varies, but it is estimated that the R₀ ("R nought" or "R zero") number is around 2.5. The disease often spreads in clusters, where infections can be traced back to an index case or geographical location. Often in these instances, superspreading events occur, where many people are infected by one person. (Full article)

Containment measures

Goals of mitigation include delaying and reducing peak burden on healthcare (flattening the curve) and lessening overall cases and health impact.

Many countries attempted to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19 by recommending, mandating or prohibiting behaviour changes, while others relied primarily on providing information. Measures ranged from public advisories to stringent lockdowns. Outbreak control strategies are divided into elimination and mitigation. Experts differentiate between" zero-COVID", which is an elimination strategy, and mitigation strategies that attempt to lessen the effects of the virus on society, but which still tolerate some level of transmission within the community. Containment strategies consists of the use of public health measures such as contact tracing, mass testing, border quarantine, lockdowns and mitigation software.These strategies can be pursued sequentially or simultaneously during the acquired immunity phase through natural and vaccine-induced immunity.

(Full article)

Videos

Animation describing the structure of a coronavirus
Video about what SARS-CoV-2 does to the human body
Video about the transmission of coronaviruses

(More videos)

Recent news

29 November 2022 – China–United Kingdom relations: 2022 COVID-19 protests in China
27 November 2022 – Protests against COVID-19 lockdowns in China: Hundreds of protesters clash with police in Shanghai as security forces attempt to disperse the crowds during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the fire on 24 November in Ürümqi, Xinjiang. (Reuters)
24 November 2022 – Modern immigration to the United Kingdom: Net migration to the United Kingdom reaches a record of 504,000 in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics. The record increase is primarily due to non-EU migration, the resumption of post-pandemic travel, the arrival of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees, and immigration from Hong Kong. (BBC News)
18 November 2022 – COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 pandemic in China; Beijing starts to provide Convidecia Air, the world's first inhalable COVID booster vaccine, manufactured by CanSino Biologics. (Al Arabiya)

Did you know?

... that as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Paul Alexander tried unsuccessfully to tell Dr. Anthony Fauci what he could and could not say about the coronavirus?
... that Potamophylax coronavirus's range has been described as a battlefield between scientists and hydropower plant management?
... that Radio Quarantine was founded in India by a group of professors, directors and PhD students in response to social isolation protocols following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic?
... that the Association of Black Cardiologists has shared resources on the impact of coronavirus disease on black communities in response to the higher death rates seen among African Americans?
(More did you know facts)

Data maps

Cases and deaths

Total confirmed cases by reporting area
  3,000 + per 100,000 inhabitants

  1,000–3,00 per 100,000 inhabitants

  300–1,000 per 100,000 inhabitants

  100–300 per 100,000 inhabitants

  30–100 per 100,000 inhabitants

  0–30 per 100,000 inhabitants

  None or no data
Total confirmed deaths by country
  100+ per 100,000 inhabitants

  18–100 per 100,000 inhabitants

  3.3–18 per 100,000 inhabitants

  0.6–3.3 per 100,000 inhabitants

  0.1–0.6 per 100,000 inhabitants

  <0.1 per 100,000 inhabitants

  None or no data

(More statistics)

Economic impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching economic consequences including the COVID-19 recession, the second largest global recession in recent history, decreased business in the services sector during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the 2020 stock market crash, which included the largest single-week stock market decline since the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the impact of the COVID-19 on financial markets, the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis, the 2021–2022 inflation surge, shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic including the 2020–present global chip shortage, panic buying, and price gouging. It led to governments providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus. The pandemic was also a factor in the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and 2022 food crises.

Many fashion, sport, and technology events have been canceled or have changed to be online. While the monetary impact on the travel and trade industry is yet to be estimated, it is likely to be in the billions and increasing. (Full article)

Workplace

Hazard controls for COVID-19 in workplaces are the application of occupational safety and health methodologies for hazard controls to the prevention of COVID-19. Vaccination is the most effective way to protect against severe illness or death from COVID-19. Multiple layers of controls are recommended, including measures such as remote work and flextime, increased ventilation, personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings, social distancing, and enhanced cleaning programs. (Full article)

Misinformation

False information, including intentional disinformation and conspiracy theories, about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. False information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. Many countries have passed laws against "fake news", and thousands of people have been arrested for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The spread of COVID-19 misinformation by governments has also been significant. (Full article)

Testing

COVID-19 testing involves analyzing samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2. The two main types of tests detect either the presence of the virus or antibodies produced in response to infection. Molecular tests for viral presence through its molecular components are used to diagnose individual cases and to allow public health authorities to trace and contain outbreaks. Antibody tests (serology immunoassays) instead show whether someone once had the disease. They are less useful for diagnosing current infections because antibodies may not develop for weeks after infection. It is used to assess disease prevalence, which aids the estimation of the infection fatality rate. (Full article)

Vaccine research

A COVID‑19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19).

The COVID‑19 vaccines are widely credited for their role in reducing the spread of COVID‑19 and reducing the severity and death caused by COVID‑19. According to a June 2022 study, COVID‑19 vaccines prevented an additional 14.4 to 19.8 million deaths in 185 countries and territories from 8 December 2020 to 8 December 2021. Many countries implemented phased distribution plans that prioritized those at highest risk of complications, such as the elderly, and those at high risk of exposure and transmission, such as healthcare workers. (Full article)

Drug research

COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research (506 total candidates in April 2021), with 419 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of April 2021. (Full article)

Images

Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 (centre, yellow)
This image reveals ultra-structural morphology exhibited by the virus
SARS-CoV-2 structure

(More images)

Topics

Get involved!

Get involved by joining WikiProject COVID-19. We discuss collaborations and all manner of issues on our talk page. As of 30 November 2022, there are 2,372 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

Related portals

References

^ ^a ^b Ritchie, Hannah; Mathieu, Edouard; Rodés-Guirao, Lucas; Appel, Cameron; Giattino, Charlie; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban; Hasell, Joe; Macdonald, Bobbie; Beltekian, Diana; Dattani, Saloni; Roser, Max (2020–2022). "Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2022-11-29.