CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019

An essay

Presented to the Faculty of

Sibonga National High School

In Partial Fulfillment

of the requirements in

Research Project

CHRISTINE JOY A. SULIB

March 2020
 Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in people and many different

species of animals including camels, cattle, cats and bats. They are called coronaviruses because

a crown of spike proteins had been exhibited around the particle’s lipid envelope. Based on the

report written by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020), the strains of CoV can be

zoonotic which means that it can be transmitted between animals and humans but some strains

are also not zoonotic.

Animal coronaviruses emerged to infect people and then spread between people such as

with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute

Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Investigations had demonstrated that SARS-

CoV was transmitted from civets to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans.

Last December 31, 2019, a pneumonia of unknown cause that is different from the other

coronaviruses was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in

China since the Novel Coronavirus was detected in Wuhan City, Hubei, Province of China

(People’s Rep of.). The disease was named as COVID-19 last Feb 4, 2020 and the virus is also

referred to as SARS-CoV-2 (ICTV 2020). The same as the MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, this

virus is also a betacoronavirus which originated from bats.

In the epicenter of the outbreak– Wuhan China, many of the patients had been linked to a

large seafood and live animal market which suggests animal to person spread. As the number of

confirmed cases enormously increases, a growing number of patients reportedly did not have

exposure to animal markets which indicates person to person spread. And this spread was

subsequently reported outside China. Furthermore, some international destinations now have

apparent community spread which means that some people have been infected and is not known

how or where they became exposed.

has also been suggested by current evidences that this disease has an animal source. Further

investigations had been going on in order to identify the animal source (including species

involved). As to this date, the scientific evidences are not enough to identify that source and

explain the route of transmission from an animal source to humans (WHO 2020).

The number of confirmed global cases of COVID-19 was 114,243, a total of 64,041

have already recovered and the death toll reached 4,028 across more than 100 countries

and territories since Dec. 31, 2019 to Mar. 10 as reported by the European Centre for Disease

Prevention and Control (ECDC). The deaths have been reported from China (3 139), Italy (464),

Iran (237), South Korea (54), France (30), Spain (28), United States (26), Japan (9), International

conveyance in Japan (7), Iraq (6), United Kingdom (5), Australia (3), Netherlands (3), Germany

(2), San Marino (2), Switzerland (2), Argentina (1), Canada (1), Egypt (1), Taiwan (1), Thailand

(1) and Philippines (1).

In the Philippines, Maria Rosario Vergeire, Health Secretary said that as of Mar. 10, the

total number of cases rose to 33 from 3 - in a span of five days, a month after DOH confirmed

the first cases. Comprehensive contact tracing for all cases has been conducted by the

Department of Health in coordination with concerned local government units and Centers for

Health and Development for the implementation of infection prevention and control measures

(Magsambol 2020).
 Owing to these circumstances, several measures were imposed to mitigate the spread of

COVID-19 in the Philippines. This includes an enforced ban on inbound tourists from mainland

China, Hong Kong and Macau and has been extended to also cover Taiwan as the cases of

COVID-19 began to heighten in the country. The order also restricts Filipinos from travelling to

the affected areas including foreign workers. A “Code Red Sub-Level 1” was raised by the DOH

with the recommendation to the President to impose a “public health emergency”. This will

authorize DOH to mobilize resources for the procurement of safety gear and the imposition of

preventive quarantine measures. On March 9, Proclamation No. 922 was issued by President

Rodrigo Duterte declaring the country under a state of public emergency. The Philippine

government has repatriated some of its citizens across different international locations and were

later quarantined at the New Clark City in Tarlac (Gavilan 2020).

The rise of COVID-19 prompted the cancellation of various events in the Philippines.

The cancelled events include Palarong Pambansa which was originally scheduled in May. The

suspension of all regional and national levels of the scheduled events was also announced by the

Department of Education on Mar. 10. Aside from that, people will not be witnessing the 25 th

Panagbenga Flower Festival due to COVID-19 outbreak in the country (Lorzano 2020).
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Newspaper Article

Gavilan J. March 9, 2020. List: areas under state of public health emergency over

coronavirus outbreak. RAPPLER

Lorzano J. March 10, 2020. List: events cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreak. One News

Magsambol, B. March 10, 2020. List: confirmed coronavirus cases in the Philippines as

of March 10. RAPPLER.

Webpages

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. 2020. COVID-19: Frequently

Asked Questions and Answers. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-

ncov/faq.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [Internet]. 2020. COVID-19: COVID-19

Situation Summary. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control [Internet]. 2020. COVID-19:

Situation update worldwide as of March 10. Available from:

https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases.

Healthline [Internet]. 2020. The latest on the coronavirus: NY Governor calls in national

guard. Available from: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-to-know-about-the-

mysterious-coronavirus-detected-in-china
 World Organization for Animal Health [Internet]. 2020. Questions and Answers on

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recommendations/questions-and-answers-on-2019novel-coronavirus/

World Health Organization [Internet]. 2020. COVID-19 Outbreak. Available from:

https://www.who.int/westernpacific/emergencies/covid-19

World Health Organization [Internet]. 2020. Naming COVID-19 and the virus that causes

it. Available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-

guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it

World Health Organization [Internet]. 2020. Rolling updates on coronavirus disease

2019. Available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-

2019/events-as-they-happen