The key to slowing an outbreak is to reduce the rate at which cases grow, washing our hands, avoiding people when coughing and sneezing and trying not to touch our eyes, nose and mouth.
The mortality rate outside China is 0.7%. To understand Covid-19 it should be known that coronaviruses are an extensive family of viruses that can cause diseases in both animals and humans.
Covid-19 is the most recently discovered infectious disease caused by coronavirus. In January the virus was concentrated in China, however, at the end of January there were 10 thousand cases and 129 more in other countries. Outbreaks were detected in South Korea, Italy, Germany and Spain in February. To date there are just over 180,000 cases of infected people in the world, affecting 115 nations, including North America.
In the United States the first confirmed case was announced on January 21, detected in a man of approximately 30 years old, originally from Washington state, who had recently traveled to China. To date there are more than 4,600 confirmed cases. The deaths in the world total more than 7,000 and in turn more than 78,000 have recovered. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the mortality rate within China is between 2% and 4%, but in other countries the rate is reduced to 0.7%.
Taking Preventive Measures The basic advice of the World Health Organization is that you can protect yourself from all respiratory viruses by washing your hands, avoiding people coughing and sneezing and trying not to touch your eyes, nose and mouth. We must take special care of older people, those who affected with respiratory diseases, as well as those with diabetes and hypertension.
Quarantine and Cure Different countries have imposed quarantines to help slow the number of cases, protect people at higher risk and reduce the spread of infection. In places where government determines a quarantine status, people are restricted to going and returning from work, buying food or medicine, caring for the elderly or ill, and going to hospital.
The United States began testing the Covid-19 vaccine this week. The vaccine will be tested on a group of 45 healthy volunteers at the Kaiser Permanente research center in Seattle. According to experts, it will take several months to find out if this vaccine or other developing vaccine works. It is important that we all respect the restrictions relating to travel, social distancing and mass concentrations of people applicable to each specific location. If we cooperate with measures to combat the disease, we will reduce the risk that each of us will take to contract or spread the virus.
