15 Fresh Facts About Coronavirus That You Need To Know If You Value Health
Who gets infected more often, does age and gender influence, what is the mortality rate and other important data.
The World Health Organization (WHO) sent a group of international experts to China to analyze the situation with the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. As a result of their work, a large press conference was held and a special report was published on visits to Beijing, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu. Here are the most interesting facts from it:
1. COVID-19 usually does not extend over long distances. Airborne infection is most likely only in close contact with the patient. That is why at the very beginning, members of the infected family got sick.
2. Most of the 2,055 infected hospital workers were infected either at home or in the early stages of the Wuhan outbreak when all precautions had not yet been taken.
3. The duration of the disease is usually for two weeks. In severe cases, from 3 to 6 weeks.
4. Today in the province of Hubei, the capital of which is the city of Wuhan, infected more than 65 thousand people. From other provinces, about 40 thousand employees of medical institutions were sent there.
5. 45 hospitals serve the infected, 6 of which are intended for critically ill patients, and 39 are for seriously ill patients and people over 65. In a short time, two new hospitals with 2,600 beds were built. Since 80% of those infected have only mild signs of the disease, 10 temporary hospitals were created for them in gymnasiums and exhibition halls.
6. At present, China can produce 1.6 million coronavirus diagnostic kits every week. The test gives the result on the same day. Throughout the country, everyone who goes to the doctor with a fever is checked for the virus. In the province of Guangdong, which is far from Wuhan, 320,000 people were tested, 0.14% of them were infected.
7. Cases, when the infected did not show symptoms of the disease, are very rare. Most often, the virus makes itself felt within a few days after infection.
8. The most common symptoms are fever (88%) and dry cough (68%), malaise (38%), expectoration of mucus when coughing (33%), shortness of breath (18%), sore throat (14%), headaches pain (14%), muscle pain (14%), chills (11%). Less common are nausea and vomiting (5%), nasal congestion (5%) and diarrhea (4%). A runny nose is not a symptom of COVID-19.
9. A survey of 44,672 infected people in China showed an average mortality rate of 3.4%. This indicator is highly dependent on age, gender, the presence of other health problems and the speed of the health system response. Thus, the mortality rate among those infected with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases was 13.2%, with high blood sugar - 9.2%, in people with high blood pressure - 8.4%, with chronic respiratory diseases - 8%. In the absence of health problems, the mortality of infected people is observed in 1.4% of cases.
10. China has already tested various methods of treating the disease, and the most successful of them have been introduced throughout the country. Thanks to this, the mortality rate is now lower than a month ago.
11. The younger you are, the less likely it is to get infected and complications from the infection. Currently, 72.8% of those infected are people over 40 years old. Children and youth under 19 years - 2.1% of infected.
12. Women get sick as often as men. However, only 2.8% of infected Chinese women died from this disease, while in men this figure reaches 4.7%. In pregnant women infected in the last trimester, children are born healthy. It is too early to talk about the effect of infection on the fetus at earlier stages of pregnancy.
13. The new virus is genetically 96% identical to the known coronavirus in bats and 86–92% identical to the coronavirus in pangolins. Thus, the transmission of a mutated virus from animals to humans is the most likely cause of COVID-19.
14. Since the end of January, the number of new infections in China has been steadily declining. Currently, on average, only 329 new cases are recorded per day. A month ago, their number was about 3,000.
fifteen. Surveys conducted by China among infected people across the country have become incredibly effective in controlling the outbreak. They are asked about all recent contacts with others and then checked. For this, 1,800 teams work in Wuhan, each of which has a minimum of 5 people. But the efforts outside the city are also great. For example, in Shenzhen, 2,842 people were named infected, all of whom were found. Currently, 2,440 of them have been checked, and it turned out that 2.8% of them have also become infected. In the Sichuan province, 25,493 people were named, of whom 25,347 (99%) were found. Of these, 23,178 were already examined and 0.9% were infected. In the province of Guangdong, 9 939 people were named, and all of them were also found - 7 765 of them have already been examined and 4.8% were infected. It means,
In conclusion, a quote from the WHO reports on China's merit in containing coronavirus:
The World Health Organization (WHO) sent a group of international experts to China to analyze the situation with the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. As a result of their work, a large press conference was held and a special report was published on visits to Beijing, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu. Here are the most interesting facts from it:
1. COVID-19 usually does not extend over long distances. Airborne infection is most likely only in close contact with the patient. That is why at the very beginning, members of the infected family got sick.
2. Most of the 2,055 infected hospital workers were infected either at home or in the early stages of the Wuhan outbreak when all precautions had not yet been taken.
3. The duration of the disease is usually for two weeks. In severe cases, from 3 to 6 weeks.
4. Today in the province of Hubei, the capital of which is the city of Wuhan, infected more than 65 thousand people. From other provinces, about 40 thousand employees of medical institutions were sent there.
5. 45 hospitals serve the infected, 6 of which are intended for critically ill patients, and 39 are for seriously ill patients and people over 65. In a short time, two new hospitals with 2,600 beds were built. Since 80% of those infected have only mild signs of the disease, 10 temporary hospitals were created for them in gymnasiums and exhibition halls.
6. At present, China can produce 1.6 million coronavirus diagnostic kits every week. The test gives the result on the same day. Throughout the country, everyone who goes to the doctor with a fever is checked for the virus. In the province of Guangdong, which is far from Wuhan, 320,000 people were tested, 0.14% of them were infected.
7. Cases, when the infected did not show symptoms of the disease, are very rare. Most often, the virus makes itself felt within a few days after infection.
8. The most common symptoms are fever (88%) and dry cough (68%), malaise (38%), expectoration of mucus when coughing (33%), shortness of breath (18%), sore throat (14%), headaches pain (14%), muscle pain (14%), chills (11%). Less common are nausea and vomiting (5%), nasal congestion (5%) and diarrhea (4%). A runny nose is not a symptom of COVID-19.
9. A survey of 44,672 infected people in China showed an average mortality rate of 3.4%. This indicator is highly dependent on age, gender, the presence of other health problems and the speed of the health system response. Thus, the mortality rate among those infected with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases was 13.2%, with high blood sugar - 9.2%, in people with high blood pressure - 8.4%, with chronic respiratory diseases - 8%. In the absence of health problems, the mortality of infected people is observed in 1.4% of cases.
10. China has already tested various methods of treating the disease, and the most successful of them have been introduced throughout the country. Thanks to this, the mortality rate is now lower than a month ago.
11. The younger you are, the less likely it is to get infected and complications from the infection. Currently, 72.8% of those infected are people over 40 years old. Children and youth under 19 years - 2.1% of infected.
12. Women get sick as often as men. However, only 2.8% of infected Chinese women died from this disease, while in men this figure reaches 4.7%. In pregnant women infected in the last trimester, children are born healthy. It is too early to talk about the effect of infection on the fetus at earlier stages of pregnancy.
13. The new virus is genetically 96% identical to the known coronavirus in bats and 86–92% identical to the coronavirus in pangolins. Thus, the transmission of a mutated virus from animals to humans is the most likely cause of COVID-19.
14. Since the end of January, the number of new infections in China has been steadily declining. Currently, on average, only 329 new cases are recorded per day. A month ago, their number was about 3,000.
fifteen. Surveys conducted by China among infected people across the country have become incredibly effective in controlling the outbreak. They are asked about all recent contacts with others and then checked. For this, 1,800 teams work in Wuhan, each of which has a minimum of 5 people. But the efforts outside the city are also great. For example, in Shenzhen, 2,842 people were named infected, all of whom were found. Currently, 2,440 of them have been checked, and it turned out that 2.8% of them have also become infected. In the Sichuan province, 25,493 people were named, of whom 25,347 (99%) were found. Of these, 23,178 were already examined and 0.9% were infected. In the province of Guangdong, 9 939 people were named, and all of them were also found - 7 765 of them have already been examined and 4.8% were infected. It means,
In conclusion, a quote from the WHO reports on China's merit in containing coronavirus:
China's bold approach to curbing the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of the growing deadly epidemic. In the face of a previously unknown virus, China has launched perhaps the most ambitious, operational and aggressive measures to contain the disease. China's uncompromising and rigorous use of non-pharmaceutical measures to curb the transmission of COVID-19 in a variety of settings provides vital lessons for a global response.