On December 31, 2019, China informed the World Health Organization of a cluster of cases of
pneumonia of an unknown cause in Wuhan City in Hubei province. On January 9, 2020, the WHO issued
a statement saying Chinese researchers have made “preliminary determination” of the virus as a novel
coronavirus. Since then, more than 204K deaths have been reported due to COVID-19 across the world
till today…. Cases have been reported from more than 180 countries, including India. Lockdowns,
curfews, massive airport screenings, quarantines, and social distancing have become the norm across
the globe. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses with some causing less severe common cold to
more severe diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory
syndrome (MERS). The SARS-CoV-21 is a coronavirus very similar to the one that caused SARS. Many
coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted from animals to humans. While the SARS
coronavirus is thought to be an animal virus from an as-yet-uncertain animal reservoir, perhaps bats,
that spread to other animals (civet cats) and first infected humans in the Guangdong province of
southern China in 2002, the MERS coronavirus was passed on from dromedary camels to humans in
Saudi Arabia in 2012. There is evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 has also been transmitted from bats
Spread The much greater binding affinity to the cell receptor explains the apparent high human-to-
human transmissibility of the virus compared with the SARS coronavirus. “The high affinity of the 2019-
nCoV S for human ACE2 may contribute to the apparent ease with which the 2019-nCoV can spread
from human-to-human,” the researchers write. “Additional studies are needed to investigate this
possibility.”
The World Health Organisation has declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic . The symptoms of COVID-
19 appear within two to 14 days after exposure and include fever, cough, a runny nose and difficulty in
breathing. How does the disease spread? It primarily spreads through the respiratory
droplets of infected people. If a person touches a surface or object that has been infected by the virus
and then touches his own mouth, nose, or eyes, he may get infected. Who is affected? While
people of all ages can be affected by the disease, people aged 80 and above are at the highest risk of
dying due to COVID-19, according to case records analysed by the Disease Control and Prevention
Centers in China and South Korea. Victims of the virus with pre-existing medical conditions such as
cardiovascular disease and diabetes have a higher fatality rate than others. Also the rate of fatalities was
relatively higher for retirees.
What are the symptoms? The guidelines5 from the Union Health Ministry for early recognition of
COVID-19 patients are those who come in with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) who also have
a history of foreign travel or close contact with another COVID-19 patient. As per the guidelines,
“COVID–19 may present with mild, moderate, or severe illness; the latter includes severe pneumonia,
ARDS [Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome], sepsis and septic shock.”
How can it be detected? The virus can be detected using a RT-PCR test . An RT-PCR or reverse
transcription polymerase chain reaction test is DNA-based and can quickly tell if someone harbours the
virus. In India, the government facilities to test for the virus include 52 labs belonging to the Viral
