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

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease has since spread worldwide, leading to an ongoing pandemic.

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 minimize the risk of transmissions. 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. (Full article...)

About the virus

This colorized transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S.

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. 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...)

About the symptoms and spread

Symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Symptoms of COVID-19 are variable, ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Common symptoms include headache, loss of smell and taste, nasal congestion and runny nose, cough, muscle pain, sore throat, fever, diarrhea, and breathing difficulties. People with the same 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 cases.

As is common with infections, there is a delay between the moment a person first becomes infected and the appearance of the first symptoms. The median delay for COVID-19 is four to five days. Most symptomatic people experience symptoms within two to seven days after exposure, and almost all will experience at least one symptom within 12 days. (Full article...)

The disease is mainly transmitted via the respiratory route when people inhale droplets and small airborne particles (that form an aerosol) that infected people exhale as they breathe, talk, cough, sneeze, or sing. Infected people are more likely to transmit COVID-19 when they are physically close. However, infection can occur over longer distances, particularly indoors. (Full article...)

Disease progress

Cases
266,457,039

Deaths
5,262,849

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COVID-19 pandemic by location

Location		Cases	Deaths
	World	266,457,039	5,262,849
	United States	49,278,278	789,905
	European Union	48,226,589	856,719
	India	34,648,383	473,757
	Brazil	22,147,476	615,744
	United Kingdom	10,575,062	146,101
	Russia	9,661,865	276,979
	Turkey	8,923,120	78,017
	France	8,021,594	120,522
	Germany	6,219,259	103,240
	Iran	6,137,821	130,277
	Argentina	5,343,153	116,680
	Spain	5,202,958	88,159
	Italy	5,118,576	134,287
	Colombia	5,082,762	128,821
	Indonesia	4,257,815	143,876
	Mexico	3,902,015	295,313
	Poland	3,684,671	85,700
	Ukraine	3,673,839	94,002
	South Africa	3,038,075	89,975
	Philippines	2,835,154	49,499
	Netherlands	2,814,521	20,153
	Malaysia	2,663,034	30,652
	Czech Republic	2,247,067	33,768
	Peru	2,243,415	201,379
	Thailand	2,148,766	20,997
	Iraq	2,084,961	23,903
	Belgium	1,868,906	27,319
	Canada	1,820,693	29,854
	Romania	1,786,839	57,153
	Chile	1,774,048	38,531
	Japan	1,727,283	18,361
	Bangladesh	1,577,720	28,005
	Israel	1,346,670	8,209
	Vietnam	1,323,683	26,483
	Pakistan	1,287,393	28,784
	Serbia	1,265,228	11,955
	Slovakia	1,234,982	14,900
	Sweden	1,212,145	15,170
	Austria	1,203,103	12,844
	Portugal	1,169,003	18,551
	Hungary	1,157,568	35,611
	Switzerland	1,068,528	11,625
	Kazakhstan	1,059,309	17,948
	Jordan	981,767	11,787
	Greece	971,148	18,716
	Cuba	963,194	8,310
	Morocco	950,643	14,788
	Georgia	867,071	12,407
	Nepal	822,830	11,543
	United Arab Emirates	742,376	2,149
	Tunisia	718,443	25,401
	Bulgaria	705,586	29,060
	Lebanon	679,625	8,785
	Belarus	665,125	5,176
	Croatia	631,765	11,269
	Guatemala	619,891	15,992
	Republic of Ireland	597,161	5,707
	Azerbaijan	596,973	7,983
	Sri Lanka	568,423	14,484
	Costa Rica	567,614	7,318
	Saudi Arabia	549,955	8,845
	Bolivia	544,666	19,247
	Ecuador	529,349	33,484
	Myanmar	524,638	19,146
	Denmark	521,835	2,969
	South Korea	482,310	3,957
	Lithuania	480,310	6,862
	Panama	479,053	7,374
	Paraguay	463,427	16,479
	Palestine	462,219	4,817
	Venezuela	434,918	5,193
	Slovenia	430,839	5,319
	Kuwait	413,524	2,465
	Dominican Republic	408,748	4,212
	Uruguay	401,103	6,136
	Mongolia	383,682	2,017
	Honduras	378,251	10,412
	Libya	375,468	5,499
	Ethiopia	372,334	6,804
	Moldova	366,751	9,244
	Egypt	364,033	20,770
	Armenia	340,818	7,691
	Oman	304,612	4,113
	Norway	287,123	1,096
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	278,511	12,780
	Bahrain	277,856	1,394
	Singapore	269,873	763
	Latvia	257,559	4,277
	Kenya	255,469	5,335
	Qatar	244,387	611
	Estonia	225,294	1,825
	Australia	220,555	2,065
	North Macedonia	217,400	7,658
	Nigeria	214,789	2,980
	Algeria	211,662	6,111
	Zambia	210,327	3,668
	Albania	201,902	3,115
	Botswana	195,552	2,420
	Finland	194,638	1,383
	Uzbekistan	194,556	1,421
	Kyrgyzstan	183,649	2,760
	Kosovo	161,139	2,985
	Montenegro	158,623	2,331
	Afghanistan	157,499	7,316
	Mozambique	152,000	1,941
	Zimbabwe	139,046	4,710
	Cyprus	137,538	602
	Ghana	131,246	1,228
	Namibia	129,796	3,574
	Uganda	127,756	3,256
	Cambodia	120,272	2,963
	El Salvador	119,803	3,786
	Cameroon	107,148	1,804
	Rwanda	100,429	1,343
	China	99,374	4,636
	Maldives	92,368	255
	Luxembourg	91,709	885
	Jamaica	91,536	2,410
	Laos	80,722	210
	Trinidad and Tobago	75,935	2,281
	Senegal	74,031	1,886
	Angola	65,259	1,735
	Malawi	61,997	2,307
	Ivory Coast	61,826	706
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	58,858	1,113
	Fiji	52,562	697
	Suriname	51,052	1,174
	Syria	48,709	2,782
	Eswatini	47,851	1,248
	Madagascar	44,800	972
	Sudan	44,170	3,200
	Malta	40,015	468
	Mauritania	39,584	842
	Cabo Verde	38,453	351
	Guyana	38,217	1,008
	Gabon	37,511	281
	Papua New Guinea	35,538	550
	Belize	30,824	588
	Guinea	30,770	387
	Togo	26,315	243
	Tanzania	26,270	730
	Barbados	26,200	240
	Haiti	25,638	750
	Benin	24,863	161
	Seychelles	23,664	127
	Somalia	23,051	1,331
	Bahamas	22,839	705
	Mauritius	22,156	240
	Lesotho	21,838	663
	Burundi	20,473	38
	Timor-Leste	19,828	122
	Republic of the Congo	18,970	354
	Iceland	18,642	35
	Andorra	18,631	133
	Mali	17,971	618
	Tajikistan	17,493	125
	Nicaragua	17,254	213
	Taiwan	16,662	848
	Burkina Faso	16,000	286
	Brunei	15,202	98
	Equatorial Guinea	13,599	175
	Djibouti	13,508	188
	Saint Lucia	13,048	282
	South Sudan	12,823	133
	Hong Kong	12,466	213
	New Zealand	12,430	44
	Central African Republic	11,742	101
	Yemen	10,034	1,955
	Gambia	9,998	342
	Eritrea	7,484	61
	Niger	7,091	264
	Guinea-Bissau	6,444	149
	Sierra Leone	6,402	121
	San Marino	6,217	94
	Dominica	6,086	42
	Grenada	5,909	200
	Liberia	5,829	287
	Chad	5,703	181
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5,623	76
	Liechtenstein	4,941	62
	Comoros	4,543	151
	Antigua and Barbuda	4,148	117
	Monaco	3,902	36
	Sao Tome and Principe	3,733	56
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	2,790	28
	Bhutan	2,641	3
	Vatican City	27	0
	Solomon Islands	20	—
	Palau	8	0
	Vanuatu	6	1
	Marshall Islands	4	—
	Samoa	3	—
	Kiribati	2	—
	Tonga	1	—
	Federated States of Micronesia	1	0

(Full article...)

National responses

Due to the pandemic in Europe, many countries in the Schengen Area have restricted free movement and set up border controls. National reactions have included containment measures such as quarantines and curfews (known as stay-at-home orders, shelter-in-place orders, or lockdowns). The WHO's recommendation on curfews and lockdowns is that they should be short-term measures to reorganise, regroup, rebalance resources, and protect health workers who are exhausted. To achieve a balance between restrictions and normal life, the long-term responses to the pandemic should consist of strict personal hygiene, effective contact tracing, and isolating when ill.

(Full article...)

Videos

• Play media

  Animation describing the structure of a coronavirus

• Play media

  Video about what SARS-CoV-2 does to the human body

• Play media

  Video about the transmission of coronaviruses

(More videos...)

Recent news

8 December 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic in India COVID-19 vaccination in India

India's Serum Institute will halve the production of its COVID-19 vaccine because it has no fresh orders, its top-ranking executive has said. (BBC News)

7 December 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic in Europe

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom

COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland reports its first cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in two people from the same household in the greater Belfast area and a third unrelated person. (The Independent)

Did you know?

• ... that industry analysts have predicted that up to 75 percent of independent restaurants in the U.S. will not survive the coronavirus pandemic?
• ... that professor Neil Ferguson and his team believe that significantly more people in China have been infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus than has been reported?
• ... that "Catch It, Bin It, Kill It" (poster shown), a slogan first used in 2007, has been revived to fight the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom?
• ... that epidemiologist Li Lanjuan was the first to propose a lockdown of Wuhan during the present coronavirus outbreak?
• ... that infectious disease specialist Daniel R. Lucey has hypothesised that the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak may have been quietly circulating among humans since at least November 2019?
• ... that of the initial cluster of people confirmed to have been infected by a novel coronavirus in China, two-thirds had been directly exposed to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan?
  (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 beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it. As the SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread around the globe, concerns have shifted from supply-side manufacturing issues to decreased business in the services sector. The pandemic caused the 2nd largest global recession in history, with more than a third of the global population at the time being placed on lockdown.

Global stock markets fell on 24 February 2020 due to a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases outside mainland China. By 28 February 2020, stock markets worldwide realized their largest single-week declines since the financial crisis of 2007–2008. This culminated in the 2020 stock market crash. (Full article...)

Workplace

The hierarchy of hazard controls contains methods for controlling exposures to hazards. Methods listed towards the top potentially more effective than those at the bottom at reducing the risk of illness or injury.

Hazard controls for COVID-19 in workplaces are the application of occupational safety and health methodologies for hazard controls to the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (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 telework and flexible schedules, increased ventilation, personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings, physical distancing, and enhanced cleaning programs. (Full article...)

Misinformation

COVID-19 misinformation refers to misinformation and conspiracy theories about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease COVID-19, which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. False information, including intentional disinformation, has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. False information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. Multiple 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 branches detect either the presence of the virus or of 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). Prior to the COVID‑19 pandemic, an established body of knowledge existed about the structure and function of coronaviruses causing diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). This knowledge accelerated the development of various vaccine platforms during early 2020. The initial focus of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines was on preventing symptomatic, often severe illness. On 10 January 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequence data was shared through GISAID, and by 19 March, the global pharmaceutical industry announced a major commitment to address COVID‑19. The COVID‑19 vaccines are widely credited for their role in reducing the severity and death caused by COVID‑19. (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

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