All we need to know about coronavirus

According to World Health Organization(WHO)'s latest data, there are already 132,567 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 4,947 deaths in 123 countries, with Italy contributing most new cases and death tolls, although it's already on its third day of national lockdown where more than 60 million people can only go out for buying groceries and medicines.

An employee of the municipal company Veritas sprays disinfectant in public areas at the Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, March 11, 2020.Marco Sabadin / AFP - Getty Images

Alarmed by what is happening in Italy, other European countries are beginning to take more drastic measures. Ireland and Spain is already on partial lockdown, France will follow suit on Monday, 16 March to close all nurseries, schools and universities. Romania and Czech Republic have closed their borders to ban foreigners from entering in.

And French President Emmanuel Marcron has said more than one time: it is just the beginning. 

What is coronavirus

According to Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). 

A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.  

How does it spread

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people.  Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.

The new coronavirus Covid-19 originates in Wuhan China in late December 2019 when China reported to WHO its first infected cases. This virus is primarily spread through airborne contact or contact with contaminated objects.

According to some tests run by American scientists, after they use a nebulizer device to put samples of the new virus into the air, imitating what might happen if an infected person coughed or made the virus airborne some other way, the viable virus could be detected up to three hours later in the air, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.

What are the symptoms?

The virus has an incubation period of two to 14 days, with an average being seven days.

The common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.

How dangerous is it?

According to WHO, 80% of infected people have mild symptoms and 5% are considered critical, and the majority of the people who have died were either elderly or had underlying health problems. So it's very important to protect them from being infected with the virus.

How to protect ourselves from it?

Other than the personal hygiene protocols recommended by WHO, including washing hands, sneezing and coughing into tissues, we also need to be cautious  while being with others, not shaking hands or hugging or cheek kissing and maintaining new social distance of at least 1 meter or even 2-3 meters.