Facts about Coronavirus: Without Hysteria and Panic

What is coronavirus?

It is important to understand that coronavirus is not one species, but a whole family of similar pathogens. Like, for example, the family of cats — tiger, lion and domestic cat are very similar, but at the same time different. So are coronaviruses — they constantly mutate with the formation of new strains, so creating a drug is almost impossible. Although, by and large, this is not necessary. We will explain why later.

The disease manifests itself as a common acute respiratory infection — with a high temperature, weakness, dry cough, shortness of breath and breathing problems. In case of severe disease, complications may occur — pneumonia, severe respiratory failure and kidney damage.

It is the complications that lead to the death of the patient, not the coronavirus itself. If you start symptomatic treatment in time — the risk of complications will be much lower. Source: https://www.who.int/ru/health-topics/coronavirus/coronavirus

How deadly is coronavirus infection?

The first outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 was registered on December 31, 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan. At the time of writing, the epidemic has been going on for 2 months. According to official WHO statistics, during this time:

85,641 people infected with coronavirus worldwide

79,394 cases (92.7% of all) were observed in China

2,933 fatal cases registered (3.4% of all)

You can see the current WHO statistics at the moment at the link: https://experience.arcgis.com

In 80% of people, coronavirus infection occurs like a common acute respiratory infection and recovery occurs on its own without special treatment. Severe respiratory failure, which theoretically can lead to death, develops in only 1 case out of 6 — this is about 17% of patients. Actually, death is noted in only 2-3% of all cases. Among the deceased are predominantly elderly people and those who suffered from chronic diseases — for example, arterial hypertension, bronchial asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This is easy to explain — the elderly have a reduced immunity, so they cope worse with the infection, complications occur more often. And people with chronic diseases already have damaged cardiovascular and respiratory systems — the virus simply «hits the sick» and the risk of death increases. If you are young and healthy — the risk of dying from coronavirus infection is low.

Source: https://www.who.int