6 months ago the World Health Organization got a call from Chinese Health Officials of peculiar pneumonia that has caused trouble in dozens of lives in Wuhan. Little did they know, this "peculiar pneumonia" would go on to change all our lives drastically! Here's everything we know and don't know after these 6 months!
The virus is one that has researchers scuttling through their labs trying to figure it out. Here's what 6 months has told us about SARS-CoV:
Initially, it was believed that person-to-person transmission was not possible, but as we know now that is definitely what happens with this virus and is one of the biggest reasons it spread so quickly.
It was believed that coronavirus was quite similar to SARS and MERS, while still true, apart from its similarities to attacking lung cells it also attacks those in the nose, justifying the previous point of how people are able to transmit this disease. In addition to this, a wide range of symptoms besides the initial fever, coughing and breathlessness.
While age remains a risk factor, several others such as compromised immunity, obesity, asthma and several more have been identified as risk factors. Children aren't entirely spared, while at a lower risk than several adults, many have had several inflammatory conditions that could be linked back to COVID.
It was believed that around 4% of all tested positive die of this virus, but due to severe antibody testing it has been calculated by scientists to be only around 0.6%. With data showing an increased amount of asymptomatic patients, the previous brief of only sick people being told to wear masks was shattered.
Several things however still remain unknown like how this went from a peculiar, mysterious illness to a worldwide pandemic or how many particles a person must be exposed to in order to get infected. It is, however, definitve that this virus is not going anywhere anytime soon and hopefully over time some of these questions will finally be answered.
Writer: Thwishaa Mehta
30/06/2020
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