Portal:COVID-19

 COVID-19 portal New related articles 

The COVID-19 portal

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
242,498,327

Deaths
4,929,776

---

[show all]

[collapse]

COVID-19 pandemic by location

Location		Cases	Deaths
	World	242,498,327	4,929,776
	United States	45,300,970	733,213
	European Union	39,269,185	787,772
	India	34,143,236	453,042
	Brazil	21,697,341	604,679
	United Kingdom	8,681,795	139,562
	Russia	8,005,376	223,331
	Turkey	7,772,574	68,472
	France	7,209,126	118,339
	Iran	5,833,525	124,763
	Argentina	5,277,525	115,796
	Spain	4,995,176	87,102
	Colombia	4,986,249	126,959
	Italy	4,729,678	131,724
	Germany	4,447,231	94,995
	Indonesia	4,237,834	143,120
	Mexico	3,772,556	285,669
	Poland	2,956,207	76,300
	South Africa	2,918,366	88,835
	Ukraine	2,827,388	66,447
	Philippines	2,740,111	41,237
	Malaysia	2,413,592	28,234
	Peru	2,192,205	199,945
	Netherlands	2,104,333	18,717
	Iraq	2,042,117	22,875
	Thailand	1,821,579	18,559
	Czechia	1,718,808	30,587
	Japan	1,716,858	18,182
	Canada	1,701,354	28,722
	Chile	1,676,019	37,640
	Bangladesh	1,566,907	27,801
	Romania	1,519,532	43,487
	Israel	1,320,962	8,036
	Belgium	1,305,678	25,835
	Pakistan	1,267,393	28,344
	Sweden	1,165,194	14,986
	Portugal	1,082,721	18,117
	Serbia	1,078,032	9,331
	Kazakhstan	1,003,262	16,835
	Morocco	943,222	14,593
	Cuba	941,562	8,133
	Vietnam	877,537	21,487
	Switzerland	861,123	11,178
	Jordan	846,033	10,903
	Hungary	841,277	30,468
	Nepal	807,522	11,326
	Austria	787,644	11,220
	United Arab Emirates	739,018	2,126
	Tunisia	711,397	25,132
	Greece	707,587	15,519
	Georgia	680,182	9,617
	Lebanon	636,147	8,441
	Guatemala	591,767	14,566
	Belarus	580,029	4,466
	Bulgaria	559,893	22,839
	Costa Rica	554,604	6,895
	Saudi Arabia	548,111	8,773
	Sri Lanka	533,860	13,562
	Ecuador	514,087	32,937
	Azerbaijan	509,862	6,829
	Bolivia	508,702	18,891
	Myanmar	491,584	18,465
	Panama	471,060	7,303
	Paraguay	460,646	16,229
	Palestine	449,980	4,604
	Slovakia	446,305	12,883
	Croatia	436,189	8,968
	Republic of Ireland	423,260	5,369
	Kuwait	412,449	2,459
	Venezuela	396,477	4,763
	Uruguay	391,700	6,069
	Lithuania	379,438	5,544
	Denmark	374,659	2,698
	Dominican Republic	373,929	4,097
	Honduras	373,455	10,159
	Ethiopia	361,027	6,316
	Libya	352,192	4,962
	South Korea	348,969	2,725
	Mongolia	344,736	1,607
	Moldova	323,469	7,386
	Egypt	321,967	18,151
	Slovenia	314,162	4,661
	Oman	304,116	4,107
	Armenia	288,906	5,902
	Bahrain	276,395	1,392
	Kenya	252,375	5,238
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	247,182	11,283
	Qatar	238,271	608
	Nigeria	209,960	2,850
	Zambia	209,589	3,658
	Algeria	205,599	5,881
	Norway	198,909	893
	North Macedonia	198,646	7,012
	Latvia	194,256	2,967
	Botswana	184,919	2,396
	Uzbekistan	182,421	1,297
	Kyrgyzstan	180,223	2,643
	Albania	180,029	2,855
	Estonia	177,287	1,444
	Singapore	162,026	280
	Kosovo	160,590	2,974
	Afghanistan	155,891	7,249
	Australia	154,489	1,611
	Finland	152,707	1,135
	Mozambique	151,174	1,927
	Montenegro	139,488	2,054
	Zimbabwe	132,540	4,662
	Ghana	129,592	1,169
	Namibia	128,414	3,544
	Uganda	125,426	3,192
	Cyprus	122,852	567
	Cambodia	117,352	2,704
	El Salvador	110,188	3,532
	Cameroon	100,289	1,600
	Rwanda	99,288	1,316
	China	96,747	4,636
	Jamaica	87,797	2,133
	Maldives	86,550	240
	Luxembourg	80,462	842
	Senegal	73,876	1,876
	Angola	63,567	1,685
	Malawi	61,745	2,296
	Ivory Coast	61,139	689
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	57,402	1,091
	Trinidad and Tobago	54,881	1,629
	Fiji	51,909	663
	Suriname	47,677	1,048
	Eswatini	46,380	1,238
	Madagascar	43,622	960
	Syria	40,630	2,467
	Sudan	40,084	3,038
	Cabo Verde	38,098	347
	Malta	37,523	459
	Mauritania	36,820	791
	Guyana	34,800	887
	Gabon	34,281	219
	Laos	33,998	49
	Guinea	30,605	385
	Papua New Guinea	26,154	325
	Tanzania	26,034	724
	Togo	25,950	240
	Belize	25,244	473
	Benin	24,560	161
	Haiti	23,406	658
	Bahamas	22,154	630
	Seychelles	22,071	119
	Lesotho	21,566	655
	Somalia	21,269	1,180
	Burundi	19,867	38
	Timor-Leste	19,749	120
	Tajikistan	17,484	125
	Mauritius	16,951	145
	Republic of the Congo	16,408	239
	Taiwan	16,349	846
	Nicaragua	16,241	207
	Mali	15,741	558
	Andorra	15,382	130
	Burkina Faso	14,793	214
	Barbados	14,326	124
	Djibouti	13,423	181
	Equatorial Guinea	13,097	163
	Iceland	12,827	33
	Saint Lucia	12,331	238
	Hong Kong	12,311	213
	South Sudan	12,279	133
	Brunei	11,542	79
	Central African Republic	11,478	100
	Gambia	9,946	339
	Yemen	9,635	1,831
	Eritrea	6,788	45
	Sierra Leone	6,397	121
	Niger	6,227	206
	Guinea-Bissau	6,131	141
	Liberia	5,811	287
	Grenada	5,795	194
	San Marino	5,490	91
	New Zealand	5,450	28
	Chad	5,069	174
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	4,786	56
	Dominica	4,465	30
	Comoros	4,197	147
	Antigua and Barbuda	3,984	97
	Sao Tome and Principe	3,689	56
	Liechtenstein	3,619	60
	Monaco	3,387	35
	Bhutan	2,617	3
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	2,591	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

22 October 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic in Asia

COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on religion

Mass Friday prayers have resumed in the capital Tehran after a 20-month hiatus due to the pandemic. Worshippers had to adhere to social distancing measures and use face masks during the gatherings and most of them brought their own prayer rugs and clay tablets. (Al-Arabiya English)

COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, COVID-19 vaccination in mainland China

Chinese capital Beijing begins administering booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines to "at-risk" individuals aged above 18, which including those participating, organizing, or working in the 2022 Winter Olympics as well as people working in education, manufacturing, retail, and public facilities less than four months prior to Winter Olympics. (The Hill)

COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, COVID-19 vaccination in Sri Lanka

Did you know?

• ... that a man suspected of carrying coronavirus in Nepal ran away from the hospital?
• ... that a fire training academy in the state of Washington has been designated as a quarantine site during the current coronavirus outbreak?
• ... 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 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?
• ... that Karan Johar launched the pop song "Genda Phool" on social media during India's coronavirus lockdown?
• ... that Corona, named after Corona, is fighting corona?
  (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

Related portals

• 
  Biology
• 
  Current events
• 
  Medicine
• 
  Modern history
• 
  Science
• 
  Viruses

Get involved!

Get involved by joining WikiProject COVID-19. We discuss collaborations and all manner of issues on our talk page. As of 23 October 2021, there are 2,088 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

Categories

Select [►] to view subcategories

COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic templates

References

Associated Wikimedia

Portals

Activities Culture Geography Health History Mathematics Nature People Philosophy Religion Society Technology Random portal