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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 breath out 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. 2). (Full article...)

Disease progress

Cases
241,568,522

Deaths
4,913,106

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COVID-19 pandemic by location

Location		Cases	Deaths
	World	241,568,522	4,913,106
	United States	45,132,148	728,192
	European Union	39,063,900	785,663
	India	34,108,996	452,651
	Brazil	21,664,879	603,855
	United Kingdom	8,581,278	139,265
	Russia	7,936,798	221,314
	Turkey	7,714,349	68,060
	France	7,196,754	118,272
	Iran	5,809,967	124,423
	Argentina	5,274,766	115,737
	Spain	4,990,767	87,051
	Colombia	4,983,527	126,910
	Italy	4,722,188	131,655
	Germany	4,410,921	94,812
	Indonesia	4,236,287	143,049
	Mexico	3,758,469	284,477
	Poland	2,945,056	76,179
	South Africa	2,917,255	88,674
	Ukraine	2,784,227	65,359
	Philippines	2,731,735	40,972
	Malaysia	2,401,866	28,062
	Peru	2,190,396	199,882
	Netherlands	2,094,470	18,698
	Iraq	2,038,847	22,810
	Thailand	1,802,934	18,407
	Japan	1,716,117	18,156
	Czechia	1,712,246	30,570
	Canada	1,695,788	28,657
	Chile	1,672,998	37,623
	Bangladesh	1,566,296	27,785
	Romania	1,486,264	42,616
	Israel	1,319,001	8,021
	Belgium	1,292,887	25,797
	Pakistan	1,266,204	28,312
	Sweden	1,163,595	14,963
	Portugal	1,080,929	18,106
	Serbia	1,062,960	9,214
	Kazakhstan	999,374	16,766
	Morocco	942,779	14,566
	Cuba	938,577	8,101
	Vietnam	870,255	21,344
	Switzerland	858,198	11,168
	Jordan	844,801	10,895
	Hungary	837,248	30,418
	Nepal	806,517	11,305
	Austria	780,269	11,196
	United Arab Emirates	738,812	2,122
	Tunisia	711,007	25,103
	Greece	700,959	15,447
	Georgia	670,552	9,546
	Lebanon	634,669	8,434
	Guatemala	589,986	14,436
	Belarus	575,856	4,432
	Costa Rica	553,661	6,880
	Bulgaria	550,555	22,612
	Saudi Arabia	548,018	8,767
	Sri Lanka	532,766	13,525
	Ecuador	514,087	32,937
	Bolivia	507,134	18,877
	Azerbaijan	505,554	6,793
	Myanmar	490,008	18,416
	Panama	470,395	7,294
	Paraguay	460,582	16,228
	Palestine	449,031	4,590
	Slovakia	439,735	12,864
	Croatia	429,974	8,928
	Republic of Ireland	419,087	5,306
	Kuwait	412,403	2,458
	Venezuela	395,223	4,748
	Uruguay	391,358	6,069
	Honduras	373,206	10,147
	Lithuania	372,585	5,489
	Denmark	372,197	2,692
	Dominican Republic	372,077	4,093
	Ethiopia	359,881	6,258
	Libya	351,224	4,924
	South Korea	346,088	2,698
	Mongolia	342,992	1,591
	Egypt	320,207	18,058
	Moldova	319,614	7,309
	Slovenia	310,170	4,645
	Oman	304,066	4,106
	Armenia	284,237	5,842
	Bahrain	276,262	1,392
	Kenya	252,199	5,233
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	245,791	11,228
	Qatar	238,079	608
	Zambia	209,549	3,658
	Nigeria	209,546	2,838
	Algeria	205,453	5,875
	North Macedonia	197,669	6,978
	Norway	197,504	884
	Latvia	188,722	2,920
	Botswana	184,051	2,389
	Uzbekistan	181,654	1,292
	Kyrgyzstan	180,006	2,638
	Albania	178,804	2,841
	Estonia	174,436	1,435
	Kosovo	160,558	2,974
	Afghanistan	155,801	7,247
	Singapore	154,725	246
	Finland	151,787	1,128
	Mozambique	151,136	1,927
	Australia	149,398	1,577
	Montenegro	138,607	2,042
	Zimbabwe	132,405	4,659
	Ghana	129,592	1,169
	Namibia	128,377	3,540
	Uganda	125,283	3,187
	Cyprus	122,528	565
	Cambodia	117,035	2,681
	El Salvador	110,188	3,505
	Cameroon	100,289	1,600
	Rwanda	99,213	1,314
	China	96,678	4,636
	Jamaica	87,667	2,123
	Maldives	86,324	239
	Luxembourg	80,085	840
	Senegal	73,875	1,872
	Angola	63,197	1,678
	Malawi	61,732	2,295
	Ivory Coast	61,089	685
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	57,338	1,091
	Trinidad and Tobago	54,405	1,613
	Fiji	51,846	663
	Suriname	47,284	1,040
	Eswatini	46,372	1,236
	Madagascar	43,622	960
	Syria	39,902	2,446
	Sudan	39,839	3,038
	Cabo Verde	38,052	347
	Malta	37,486	459
	Mauritania	36,759	790
	Guyana	34,608	877
	Gabon	33,842	218
	Laos	32,971	45
	Guinea	30,599	385
	Tanzania	26,034	724
	Togo	25,926	240
	Papua New Guinea	25,356	312
	Belize	24,768	466
	Benin	24,560	161
	Haiti	23,324	658
	Bahamas	22,048	626
	Seychelles	21,991	119
	Lesotho	21,557	655
	Somalia	21,269	1,180
	Burundi	19,745	38
	Timor-Leste	19,730	120
	Tajikistan	17,484	125
	Mauritius	16,805	141
	Taiwan	16,343	846
	Nicaragua	16,241	207
	Republic of the Congo	15,962	231
	Mali	15,674	558
	Andorra	15,369	130
	Burkina Faso	14,759	209
	Barbados	13,553	120
	Djibouti	13,423	181
	Equatorial Guinea	13,020	161
	Iceland	12,703	33
	Hong Kong	12,301	213
	Saint Lucia	12,280	237
	South Sudan	12,250	130
	Central African Republic	11,478	100
	Brunei	11,220	77
	Gambia	9,946	339
	Yemen	9,575	1,813
	Eritrea	6,778	45
	Sierra Leone	6,397	121
	Niger	6,193	205
	Guinea-Bissau	6,130	141
	Liberia	5,807	286
	Grenada	5,776	193
	San Marino	5,479	91
	New Zealand	5,214	28
	Chad	5,069	174
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	4,637	54
	Dominica	4,366	30
	Comoros	4,191	147
	Antigua and Barbuda	3,918	95
	Sao Tome and Principe	3,685	56
	Liechtenstein	3,606	60
	Monaco	3,378	35
	Bhutan	2,617	3
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	2,574	21
	Vatican City	27	0
	Solomon Islands	20	—
	Palau	8	0
	Vanuatu	4	1
	Marshall Islands	4	—
	Samoa	3	—
	Kiribati	2	—
	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

21 October 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic in India

India has administered more than a billion Covid vaccinations since it started its vaccination drive in January this year. (BBC News)

20 October 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic in Africa

COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta lifts the nationwide curfew that had been in place since March 2020 and allows places of worship to be filled to two-thirds of their capacity as the number of COVID-19 cases decreases. (Bloomberg)

COVID-19 pandemic in Senegal

Did you know?

• ... 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 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 after suspected coronavirus patients in Maharashtra, India, started fleeing hospitals, the government directed officials to stamp the left hand of those quarantined at home using indelible ink?
• ... that a vote of no confidence was successfully brought against the Kurti cabinet following a cabinet minister's dismissal over disagreements on how to manage the coronavirus pandemic in Kosovo?
• ... that industry analysts have predicted that up to 75 percent of independent restaurants in the U.S. will not survive the coronavirus pandemic?
• ... that a man suspected of carrying coronavirus in Nepal ran away from the hospital?
  (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 any kind of subject about the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in misinformation and conspiracy theories about the scale of the pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. 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 spread, 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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Get involved!

Get involved by joining WikiProject COVID-19. We discuss collaborations and all manner of issues on our talk page. As of 21 October 2021, there are 2,087 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

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