Portal:COVID-19

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P:COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transmission and life-cycle of SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19.

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, use of face masks or coverings in public, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. While work is underway to develop drugs that inhibit the virus, the primary treatment is symptomatic. Management involves the treatment of symptoms through supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.

The pandemic caused severe social and economic disruption around the world, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. Widespread supply shortages, including food shortages, were caused by supply chain disruptions and panic buying. Reduced human activity led to an unprecedented temporary decrease in pollution. Educational institutions and public areas were partially or fully closed in many jurisdictions, and many events were cancelled or postponed during 2020 and 2021. Telework became much more common for white-collar workers as the pandemic evolved. Misinformation circulated through social media and mass media, and political tensions intensified. The pandemic raised issues of racial and geographic discrimination, health equity, and the balance between public health imperatives and individual rights. (Full article)

About the virus

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. The 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)

Disease progress

As of 25 February 2024, 774,493,392 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in 7,026,534 reported deaths.^[1]

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Updated February 25, 2024.

COVID-19 pandemic by location^[1]
	Location	Cases	Deaths
	World^[a]	774,493,392	7,026,534
	European Union^[b]	185,525,362	1,258,724
	United States	103,436,829	1,170,784
	China^[c]	99,329,249	121,933
	India	45,026,139	533,454
	France	38,997,490	167,985
	Germany	38,437,756	174,979
	Brazil	37,519,960	702,116
	South Korea	34,571,873	35,934
	Japan	33,803,572	74,694
	Italy	26,699,442	195,996
	United Kingdom	24,892,903	232,112
	Russia	23,774,451	401,884
	Turkey	17,004,677	101,419
	Spain	13,980,340	121,852
	Australia	11,769,858	24,566
	Vietnam	11,624,000	43,206
	Argentina	10,094,643	130,733
	Taiwan	9,970,937	17,672
	Netherlands	8,633,769	22,986
	Mexico	7,702,809	334,958
	Iran	7,626,527	146,799
	Indonesia	6,828,268	162,054
	Poland	6,653,365	120,577
	Colombia	6,393,550	142,727
	Austria	6,081,287	22,534
	Portugal	5,641,992	28,079
	Greece	5,611,832	38,806
	Ukraine	5,521,032	109,918
	Chile	5,345,008	62,288
	Malaysia	5,269,967	37,340
	Belgium	4,855,952	34,339
	Israel	4,841,558	12,707
	Canada	4,774,222	54,127
	Thailand	4,765,718	34,555
	Czech Republic	4,756,085	43,478
	Peru	4,536,733	221,583
	Switzerland	4,450,977	14,178
	Philippines	4,140,383	66,864
	South Africa	4,072,636	102,595
	Romania	3,519,108	68,676
	Denmark	3,433,033	9,436
	Singapore	2,994,295	1,954
	Hong Kong	2,876,106	13,466
	Sweden	2,749,793	27,053
	Serbia	2,583,470	18,057
	New Zealand	2,475,546	3,768
	Iraq	2,465,545	25,375
	Hungary	2,229,538	49,022
	Bangladesh	2,047,297	29,482
	Slovakia	1,877,065	21,218
	Georgia	1,855,289	17,132
	Jordan	1,746,997	14,122
	Republic of Ireland	1,732,675	9,450
	Pakistan	1,580,631	30,656
	Norway	1,506,086	5,732
	Kazakhstan	1,503,205	19,072
	Finland	1,499,712	11,423
	Lithuania	1,361,865	9,788
	Slovenia	1,355,444	9,957
	Bulgaria	1,327,689	38,681
	Croatia	1,309,728	18,687
	Morocco	1,278,844	16,301
	Puerto Rico	1,252,713	5,938
	Guatemala	1,250,319	20,201
	Lebanon	1,239,904	10,947
	Costa Rica	1,230,653	9,368
	Bolivia	1,211,716	22,385
	Tunisia	1,153,361	29,423
	Cuba	1,115,043	8,530
	United Arab Emirates	1,067,030	2,349
	Ecuador	1,062,896	36,019
	Panama	1,042,567	8,654
	Uruguay	1,041,111	7,660
	Mongolia	1,011,456	2,284
	Nepal	1,003,450	12,031
	Belarus	994,037	7,118
	Latvia	977,701	7,465
	Saudi Arabia	841,469	9,646
	Azerbaijan	834,470	10,353
	Paraguay	736,275	19,956
	Palestine	703,228	5,708
	Bahrain	696,614	1,536
	Cyprus	681,110	1,365
	Sri Lanka	672,745	16,896
	Kuwait	667,026	2,570
	Dominican Republic	661,180	4,384
	Myanmar	641,730	19,494
	Moldova	633,670	12,197
	Estonia	609,520	2,986
	Venezuela	552,695	5,856
	Egypt	516,023	24,830
	Qatar	514,524	690
	Libya	507,269	6,437
	Ethiopia	501,117	7,574
	Réunion	494,595	921
	Honduras	472,755	11,114
	Armenia	451,426	8,775
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	403,565	16,382
	Oman	399,449	4,628
	Luxembourg	390,788	1,000
	North Macedonia	350,499	9,968
	Zambia	349,304	4,069
	Kenya	344,094	5,689
	Brunei	342,802	178
	Albania	334,863	3,605
	Botswana	330,417	2,800
	Mauritius	324,332	1,066
	Kosovo	274,279	3,212
	Algeria	272,010	6,881
	Nigeria	267,173	3,155
	Zimbabwe	266,265	5,737
	Montenegro	251,280	2,654
	Mozambique	233,731	2,250
	Afghanistan	231,539	7,982
	Martinique	230,354	1,104
	Laos	218,917	671
	Iceland	209,878	186
	Guadeloupe	203,235	1,021
	El Salvador	201,853	4,230
	Trinidad and Tobago	191,496	4,390
	Maldives	186,694	316
	Uzbekistan	175,081	1,016
	Namibia	172,264	4,103
	Uganda	171,890	3,632
	Ghana	171,834	1,462
	Jamaica	156,704	3,591
	Cambodia	139,085	3,056
	Rwanda	133,208	1,468
	Cameroon	125,137	1,974
	Malta	121,283	906
	Barbados	110,375	593
	Angola	107,084	1,937
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	99,338	1,468
	French Guiana	98,041	413
	Malawi	89,168	2,686
	Senegal	89,050	1,971
	Kyrgyzstan	88,953	1,024
	Ivory Coast	88,384	835
	Suriname	82,506	1,404
	New Caledonia	80,064	314
	French Polynesia	79,254	650
	Eswatini	75,191	1,427
	Guyana	74,129	1,300
	Belize	71,381	688
	Fiji	69,047	885
	Madagascar	68,475	1,426
	Jersey	66,391	161
	Cabo Verde	64,474	417
	Sudan	63,993	5,046
	Mauritania	63,809	997
	Bhutan	62,697	21
	Syria	57,423	3,163
	Burundi	54,546	15
	Guam	52,287	419
	Seychelles	51,220	172
	Gabon	49,051	307
	Andorra	48,015	159
	Papua New Guinea	46,864	670
	Curaçao	45,883	305
	Aruba	44,224	292
	Tanzania	43,223	846
	Mayotte	42,027	187
	Togo	39,527	290
	Guinea	38,572	468
	Bahamas	38,084	844
	Isle of Man	38,008	116
	Lesotho	36,135	709
	Guernsey	35,326	67
	Faroe Islands	34,658	28
	Haiti	34,509	860
	Mali	33,164	743
	Cayman Islands	31,472	37
	Saint Lucia	30,215	410
	Benin	28,036	163
	Somalia	27,334	1,361
	Federated States of Micronesia	26,547	65
	Solomon Islands	25,954	199
	United States Virgin Islands	25,389	132
	San Marino	25,292	126
	Republic of the Congo	25,213	389
	Timor-Leste	23,460	138
	Burkina Faso	22,109	400
	Liechtenstein	21,571	89
	Gibraltar	20,550	113
	Grenada	19,693	238
	Bermuda	18,860	165
	South Sudan	18,819	147
	Tajikistan	17,786	125
	Monaco	17,181	67
	Equatorial Guinea	17,130	183
	Samoa	16,962	31
	Tonga	16,950	12
	Marshall Islands	16,138	17
	Nicaragua	16,116	245
	Dominica	16,038	74
	Djibouti	15,690	189
	Central African Republic	15,440	113
	Northern Mariana Islands	14,341	41
	Gambia	12,626	372
	Collectivity of Saint Martin	12,324	46
	Vanuatu	12,019	14
	Greenland	11,971	21
	Yemen	11,945	2,159
	Caribbean Netherlands	11,922	41
	Sint Maarten	11,051	92
	Eritrea	10,189	103
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	9,674	124
	Guinea-Bissau	9,614	177
	Niger	9,515	315
	Comoros	9,109	160
	Antigua and Barbuda	9,106	146
	American Samoa	8,359	34
	Liberia	7,930	294
	Sierra Leone	7,779	125
	Chad	7,698	194
	British Virgin Islands	7,392	64
	Cook Islands	7,203	2
	Sao Tome and Principe	6,734	80
	Turks and Caicos Islands	6,713	40
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	6,607	46
	Palau	6,265	9
	Saint Barthélemy	5,507	5
	Nauru	5,393	1
	Kiribati	5,085	24
	Anguilla	3,904	12
	Wallis and Futuna	3,550	8
	Macau	3,514	121
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	3,426	2
	Tuvalu	2,943	1
	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	2,166	—
	Falkland Islands	1,923	—
	Montserrat	1,403	8
	Niue	993	—
	Tokelau	80	0
	Vatican City	26	0
	Pitcairn Islands	4	—
	North Korea	1	6
	Turkmenistan	0	0
^ Countries which do not report data for a column are not included in that column's world total. ^ Data on member states of the European Union are individually listed, but are also summed here for convenience. They are not double-counted in world totals. ^ Does not include special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau) or Taiwan.

(Full article)

About the symptoms

The symptoms of COVID-19 are variable depending on the type of variant contracted, ranging from mild symptoms to a potentially fatal illness. Common symptoms include coughing, fever, loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia), with less common ones including headaches, nasal congestion and runny nose, muscle pain, sore throat, diarrhea, eye irritation, and toes swelling or turning purple, and in moderate to severe cases, breathing difficulties. People with the COVID-19 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; and a cluster of digestive symptoms with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. In people without prior ear, nose, or throat disorders, loss of taste combined with loss of smell is associated with COVID-19 and is reported in as many as 88% of symptomatic cases. (Full article)

About the spread

COVID-19 is mainly transmitted when people breathe in air contaminated by droplets/aerosols and small airborne particles containing the virus. Infected people exhale those particles as they breathe, talk, cough, sneeze, or sing. Transmission is more likely the closer people are. However, infection can occur over longer distances, particularly indoors.

Infectious particles range in size from aerosols that remain suspended in the air for long periods of time to larger droplets that remain airborne briefly or fall to the ground. Additionally, COVID-19 research has redefined the traditional understanding of how respiratory viruses are transmitted. The largest droplets of respiratory fluid do not travel far, but can be inhaled or land on mucous membranes on the eyes, nose, or mouth to infect. Aerosols are highest in concentration when people are in close proximity, which leads to easier viral transmission when people are physically close, but airborne transmission can occur at longer distances, mainly in locations that are poorly ventilated; in those conditions small particles can remain suspended in the air for minutes to hours. (Full article)

Containment measures

Many countries attempted to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19 by recommending, mandating or prohibiting behaviour changes, while others relied primarily on providing information. Measures ranged from public advisories to stringent lockdowns. Outbreak control strategies are divided into elimination and mitigation. Experts differentiate between" zero-COVID", which is an elimination strategy, and mitigation strategies that attempt to lessen the effects of the virus on society, but which still tolerate some level of transmission within the community. Containment strategies consists of the use of public health measures such as contact tracing, mass testing, border quarantine, lockdowns and mitigation software.These strategies can be pursued sequentially or simultaneously during the acquired immunity phase through natural and vaccine-induced immunity.

(Full article)

Videos

Animation describing the structure of a coronavirus
Video about what SARS-CoV-2 does to the human body
Video about the transmission of coronaviruses

(More videos)

Recent news

4 December 2023 –: Gold prices reach a new peak of US$2,135.39 per ounce, surpassing the previous record from 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. (AFP via The Economic Times)

Did you know?

... that Potamophylax coronavirus's range has been described as a battlefield between scientists and hydropower plant management?
(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 including the COVID-19 recession, the second largest global recession in recent history, decreased business in the services sector during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the 2020 stock market crash, which included the largest single-week stock market decline since the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, the 2021–2023 global supply chain crisis, the 2021–2023 inflation surge, shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic including the 2020–present global chip shortage, panic buying, and price gouging. It led to governments providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus. The pandemic was also a factor in the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and 2022–2023 food crises.

Many fashion, sport, and technology events have been canceled or have changed to be online. While the monetary impact on the travel and trade industry is yet to be estimated, it is likely to be in the billions and increasing. (Full article)

Workplace

Hazard controls for COVID-19 in workplaces are the application of occupational safety and health methodologies for hazard controls to the prevention of 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 remote work and flextime, increased ventilation, personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings, social distancing, and enhanced cleaning programs. (Full article)

Misinformation

False information, including intentional disinformation and conspiracy theories, about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. False information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. Many 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 types of tests detect either the presence of the virus or 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).

The COVID‑19 vaccines are widely credited for their role in reducing the spread of COVID‑19 and reducing the severity and death caused by COVID‑19. According to a June 2022 study, COVID‑19 vaccines prevented an additional 14.4 to 19.8 million deaths in 185 countries and territories from 8 December 2020 to 8 December 2021. Many countries implemented phased distribution plans that prioritized those at highest risk of complications, such as the elderly, and those at high risk of exposure and transmission, such as healthcare workers. (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

Get involved!

Get involved by joining WikiProject COVID-19. We discuss collaborations and all manner of issues on our talk page. As of 26 February 2024, there are 2,435 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

Related portals

References

^ ^a ^b Ritchie, Hannah; Mathieu, Edouard; Rodés-Guirao, Lucas; Appel, Cameron; Giattino, Charlie; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban; Hasell, Joe; Macdonald, Bobbie; Beltekian, Diana; Dattani, Saloni; Roser, Max (2020–2022). "Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2024-02-25.