Portal:COVID-19

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The COVID-19 portal

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, use of face masks or coverings in public, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. While work is underway to develop drugs that inhibit the virus, the primary treatment is symptomatic. Management involves the treatment of symptoms through 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 disruptions. Reduced human activity led to an unprecedented decrease in pollution. 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)
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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 March 2023, 761,071,062 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in 6,879,664 reported deaths.[1]


Updated March 29, 2023.
COVID-19 pandemic by location[1]
Location Cases Deaths
World[a] 761,071,062 6,879,664
European Union European Union[b] 182,927,871 1,218,726
United States United States 102,544,598 1,114,970
China China[c] 99,229,372 120,775
India India 44,696,984 530,808
France France 38,623,552 161,700
Germany Germany 38,306,781 169,802
Brazil Brazil 37,145,514 699,634
Japan Japan 33,374,303 73,511
South Korea South Korea 30,702,960 34,171
Italy Italy 25,651,205 188,750
United Kingdom United Kingdom 24,448,729 209,396
Russia Russia 22,525,882 396,899
Turkey Turkey 17,004,677 101,419
Spain Spain 13,783,163 119,872
Vietnam Vietnam 11,527,139 43,186
Australia Australia 11,380,700 19,447
Argentina Argentina 10,044,957 130,472
Taiwan Taiwan 9,970,937 17,672
Netherlands Netherlands 8,605,996 22,991
Iran Iran 7,580,858 145,091
Mexico Mexico 7,511,450 333,327
Indonesia Indonesia 6,742,061 160,977
Poland Poland 6,477,600 119,170
Colombia Colombia 6,361,293 142,652
Austria Austria 6,003,506 22,043
Greece Greece 5,920,428 36,447
Portugal Portugal 5,573,509 26,362
Ukraine Ukraine 5,427,360 111,457
Chile Chile 5,233,460 64,407
Malaysia Malaysia 5,045,192 36,967
Israel Israel 4,809,664 12,370
Belgium Belgium 4,757,448 33,885
Thailand Thailand 4,728,482 33,929
Czech Republic Czech Republic 4,627,435 42,576
Canada Canada 4,618,059 51,800
Peru Peru 4,489,377 219,648
Switzerland Switzerland 4,394,296 13,960
Philippines Philippines 4,078,994 66,272
South Africa South Africa 4,068,224 102,595
Denmark Denmark 3,405,709 8,330
Romania Romania 3,359,839 67,821
Hong Kong Hong Kong 2,876,106 13,466
Sweden Sweden 2,700,231 23,813
Serbia Serbia 2,509,089 17,932
Iraq Iraq 2,465,545 25,375
Singapore Singapore 2,245,348 1,722
Hungary Hungary 2,197,820 48,690
New Zealand New Zealand 2,196,555 2,586
Bangladesh Bangladesh 2,037,978 29,445
Slovakia Slovakia 1,864,741 21,069
Georgia (country) Georgia 1,831,771 17,004
Jordan Jordan 1,746,997 14,122
Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland 1,705,295 8,719
Pakistan Pakistan 1,578,358 30,645
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 1,500,207 19,071
Norway Norway 1,480,136 5,266
Finland Finland 1,464,294 8,990
Slovenia Slovenia 1,336,426 9,183
Lithuania Lithuania 1,311,432 9,617
Bulgaria Bulgaria 1,298,608 38,240
Morocco Morocco 1,272,585 16,296
Croatia Croatia 1,270,075 18,025
Guatemala Guatemala 1,241,016 20,183
Lebanon Lebanon 1,233,817 10,856
Costa Rica Costa Rica 1,219,074 9,291
Bolivia Bolivia 1,195,171 22,368
Tunisia Tunisia 1,151,333 29,345
Cuba Cuba 1,112,724 8,530
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 1,104,424 5,837
Ecuador Ecuador 1,058,004 36,016
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 1,055,334 2,349
Uruguay Uruguay 1,035,046 7,619
Panama Panama 1,032,939 8,612
Mongolia Mongolia 1,007,907 2,136
Nepal Nepal 1,001,185 12,020
Belarus Belarus 994,037 7,118
Latvia Latvia 976,535 6,286
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 831,502 9,624
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 829,271 10,153
Paraguay Paraguay 735,759 19,880
State of Palestine Palestine 703,228 5,708
Bahrain Bahrain 696,614 1,536
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 672,054 16,832
Kuwait Kuwait 664,772 2,570
Dominican Republic Dominican Republic 660,848 4,384
Cyprus Cyprus 653,667 1,341
Myanmar Myanmar 633,993 19,490
Estonia Estonia 615,727 2,949
Moldova Moldova 613,886 12,025
Venezuela Venezuela 552,233 5,854
Egypt Egypt 515,852 24,819
Libya Libya 507,206 6,437
Ethiopia Ethiopia 500,212 7,572
Qatar Qatar 496,802 688
Réunion Réunion 494,595 921
Honduras Honduras 472,340 11,111
Armenia Armenia 447,730 8,732
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina 401,973 16,296
Oman Oman 399,449 4,628
North Macedonia North Macedonia 347,327 9,665
Zambia Zambia 343,250 4,057
Kenya Kenya 342,953 5,688
Albania Albania 333,726 3,601
Botswana Botswana 329,785 2,795
Luxembourg Luxembourg 318,951 1,224
Mauritius Mauritius 296,042 1,044
Montenegro Montenegro 289,292 2,808
Brunei Brunei 280,790 150
Kosovo Kosovo 273,517 3,202
Algeria Algeria 271,542 6,881
Nigeria Nigeria 266,641 3,155
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe 264,391 5,672
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan 251,660 1,637
Mozambique Mozambique 233,214 2,242
Martinique Martinique 229,267 1,093
Laos Laos 218,027 758
Afghanistan Afghanistan 209,848 7,881
Iceland Iceland 209,191 259
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan 206,740 2,991
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe 202,004 1,010
El Salvador El Salvador 201,785 4,230
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago 190,285 4,361
Maldives Maldives 185,755 311
Ghana Ghana 171,288 1,462
Namibia Namibia 171,208 4,090
Uganda Uganda 170,463 3,630
Jamaica Jamaica 154,471 3,521
Cambodia Cambodia 138,721 3,056
Rwanda Rwanda 133,194 1,468
Cameroon Cameroon 124,679 1,968
Malta Malta 117,898 831
Barbados Barbados 106,798 579
Angola Angola 105,298 1,933
French Guiana French Guiana 98,041 413
Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo 95,814 1,464
Senegal Senegal 88,945 1,971
Malawi Malawi 88,613 2,686
Ivory Coast Ivory Coast 88,289 834
Suriname Suriname 82,467 1,404
New Caledonia New Caledonia 80,032 314
French Polynesia French Polynesia 78,101 649
Eswatini Eswatini 74,323 1,425
Guyana Guyana 73,105 1,298
Belize Belize 70,782 688
Fiji Fiji 68,904 883
Madagascar Madagascar 67,941 1,423
Jersey Jersey 66,391 161
Sudan Sudan 63,899 5,026
Mauritania Mauritania 63,439 997
Cape Verde Cabo Verde 63,251 413
Bhutan Bhutan 62,647 21
Syria Syria 57,423 3,163
Burundi Burundi 53,661 15
Guam Guam 50,955 415
Seychelles Seychelles 50,937 172
Gabon Gabon 48,981 306
Andorra Andorra 47,908 159
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea 46,826 670
Curaçao Curaçao 45,787 301
Aruba Aruba 44,082 286
Tanzania Tanzania 42,927 846
Mayotte Mayotte 42,004 187
Togo Togo 39,416 290
Guinea Guinea 38,280 467
Isle of Man Isle of Man 38,008 116
The Bahamas Bahamas 37,491 833
Guernsey Guernsey 35,139 67
Faroe Islands Faroe Islands 34,658 28
Lesotho Lesotho 34,490 706
Haiti Haiti 34,202 860
Mali Mali 33,071 743
Cayman Islands Cayman Islands 31,472 37
Saint Lucia Saint Lucia 30,028 409
Benin Benin 27,999 163
Somalia Somalia 27,334 1,361
Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo 25,110 388
United States Virgin Islands United States Virgin Islands 24,831 130
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands 24,575 153
Federated States of Micronesia Federated States of Micronesia 24,195 63
San Marino San Marino 23,747 123
East Timor Timor-Leste 23,422 138
Burkina Faso Burkina Faso 22,056 396
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 21,454 87
Gibraltar Gibraltar 20,462 111
Grenada Grenada 19,680 238
Bermuda Bermuda 18,836 161
South Sudan South Sudan 18,368 138
Tajikistan Tajikistan 17,786 125
Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea 17,130 183
Tonga Tonga 16,813 12
Samoa Samoa 16,427 31
Monaco Monaco 16,135 67
Dominica Dominica 15,760 74
Marshall Islands Marshall Islands 15,723 17
Djibouti Djibouti 15,690 189
Nicaragua Nicaragua 15,672 245
Central African Republic Central African Republic 15,367 113
Northern Mariana Islands Northern Mariana Islands 13,722 41
The Gambia Gambia 12,598 372
Collectivity of Saint Martin Collectivity of Saint Martin 12,276 46
Vanuatu Vanuatu 12,014 14
Greenland Greenland 11,971 21
Yemen Yemen 11,945 2,159
Caribbean Netherlands Caribbean Netherlands 11,811 41
Sint Maarten Sint Maarten 11,023 90
Eritrea Eritrea 10,189 103
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 9,593 124
Niger Niger 9,513 315
Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau 9,134 176
Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda 9,106 146
Comoros Comoros 9,048 160
American Samoa American Samoa 8,321 34
Liberia Liberia 8,090 294
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone 7,762 125
Chad Chad 7,682 194
British Virgin Islands British Virgin Islands 7,305 64
Cook Islands Cook Islands 7,033 2
Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis 6,597 46
Turks and Caicos Islands Turks and Caicos Islands 6,561 38
São Tomé and Príncipe Sao Tome and Principe 6,296 77
Palau Palau 5,995 9
Saint Barthélemy Saint Barthélemy 5,459 5
Nauru Nauru 5,393 1
Kiribati Kiribati 5,014 18
Anguilla Anguilla 3,904 12
Macau Macau 3,514 121
Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna 3,427 7
Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon 3,418 2
Tuvalu Tuvalu 2,779
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha 2,166
Falkland Islands Falkland Islands 1,923
Montserrat Montserrat 1,403 8
Niue Niue 747
Vatican City Vatican City 26 0
Tokelau Tokelau 5 0
Pitcairn Islands Pitcairn Islands 4
North Korea North Korea 1 6
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan 0 0
  1. ^ Countries which do not report data for a column are not included in that column's world total.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Does not include special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau) or Taiwan.

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 a potentially 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; and a cluster of digestive symptoms with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. In people without prior ear, nose, or 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.

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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 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)

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Get involved by joining WikiProject COVID-19. We discuss collaborations and all manner of issues on our talk page. As of 30 March 2023, there are 2,429 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

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References

  1. ^ 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 2023-03-29.

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