Portal:COVID-19

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The COVID-19 portal

P:COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Most scientists believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus entered into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history. Social and environmental factors including climate change, natural ecosystem destruction and wildlife trade increased the likelihood of such zoonotic spillover. 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, many of 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 drugs have been developed to inhibit the virus, the primary treatment is still symptomatic, managing the disease through supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.

The WHO ended the PHEIC for COVID-19 on 5 May 2023. The disease has continued to circulate, but as of 2024, experts were uncertain as to whether it was still a pandemic. Pandemics and their ends are not well-defined, and whether or not one has ended differs according to the definition used. As of 24 November 2024, COVID-19 has caused 7,075,455^[1] confirmed deaths. The COVID-19 pandemic ranks as the fifth-deadliest pandemic or epidemic in history. (Full article)

About the virus

SARS-CoV-2 as seen by a cryo-electron tomography scan.

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 24 November 2024, 776,840,500 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in 7,075,455 reported deaths.^[1]

Updated November 24, 2024.

COVID-19 pandemic by location^[1]
	Location	Cases	Deaths
	World^[a]	776,840,500	7,075,455
	European Union^[b]	186,288,423	1,265,766
	United States	103,436,829	1,207,479
	China^[c]	99,381,189	122,375
	India	45,044,346	533,655
	France	39,027,283	168,091
	Germany	38,437,756	174,979
	Brazil	37,511,921	702,116
	South Korea	34,571,873	35,934
	Japan	33,803,572	74,694
	Italy	26,826,486	197,542
	United Kingdom	25,012,428	232,112
	Russia	24,619,320	403,672
	Turkey	17,004,730	101,419
	Spain	13,980,340	121,852
	Australia	11,861,161	25,236
	Vietnam	11,624,000	43,206
	Argentina	10,108,453	130,704
	Taiwan	9,970,937	17,672
	Netherlands	8,643,435	22,986
	Iran	7,627,863	146,837
	Mexico	7,622,378	334,794
	Indonesia	6,829,789	162,059
	Poland	6,762,156	120,923
	Colombia	6,394,466	142,727
	Austria	6,082,904	22,534
	Greece	5,733,671	39,678
	Portugal	5,669,797	29,054
	Ukraine	5,540,412	109,923
	Chile	5,404,738	64,482
	Malaysia	5,320,263	37,351
	Belgium	4,890,455	34,339
	Israel	4,841,558	12,707
	Canada	4,819,055	55,282
	Czech Republic	4,816,303	43,718
	Thailand	4,804,750	34,735
	Peru	4,526,977	220,975
	Switzerland	4,469,913	14,170
	Philippines	4,173,631	66,864
	South Africa	4,072,819	102,595
	Romania	3,566,771	68,899
	Denmark	3,443,535	9,919
	Singapore	3,006,155	2,024
	Hong Kong	2,876,106	13,466
	Sweden	2,766,574	28,090
	New Zealand	2,654,411	4,461
	Serbia	2,583,470	18,057
	Iraq	2,465,545	25,375
	Hungary	2,236,646	49,095
	Bangladesh	2,051,486	29,499
	Slovakia	1,884,534	21,257
	Georgia	1,864,383	17,151
	Republic of Ireland	1,750,612	9,902
	Jordan	1,746,997	14,122
	Pakistan	1,580,631	30,656
	Norway	1,526,155	5,732
	Kazakhstan	1,504,370	19,072
	Finland	1,499,712	11,466
	Lithuania	1,401,879	9,855
	Slovenia	1,360,148	9,914
	Croatia	1,350,017	18,777
	Bulgaria	1,338,327	38,759
	Morocco	1,279,115	16,305
	Puerto Rico	1,252,713	5,938
	Guatemala	1,250,394	20,203
	Lebanon	1,239,904	10,947
	Costa Rica	1,235,736	9,374
	Bolivia	1,212,156	22,387
	Tunisia	1,153,361	29,423
	Cuba	1,113,662	8,530
	Ecuador	1,078,805	36,055
	United Arab Emirates	1,067,030	2,349
	Panama	1,044,987	8,756
	Uruguay	1,041,810	7,686
	Mongolia	1,011,489	2,136
	Nepal	1,003,450	12,031
	Belarus	994,038	7,118
	Latvia	977,765	7,475
	Saudi Arabia	841,469	9,646
	Azerbaijan	836,487	10,353
	Paraguay	735,759	19,880
	Cyprus	708,791	1,497
	Palestine	703,228	5,708
	Bahrain	696,614	1,536
	Sri Lanka	672,809	16,907
	Kuwait	667,290	2,570
	Dominican Republic	661,103	4,384
	Moldova	650,707	12,281
	Myanmar	643,231	19,494
	Estonia	612,746	2,998
	Venezuela	552,695	5,856
	Egypt	516,023	24,830
	Qatar	514,524	690
	Libya	507,269	6,437
	Ethiopia	501,244	7,574
	Réunion	494,595	921
	Honduras	472,910	11,114
	Armenia	453,040	8,779
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	403,979	16,403
	Oman	399,449	4,628
	Luxembourg	396,228	1,000
	North Macedonia	352,049	9,990
	Zambia	349,892	4,078
	Brunei	349,443	181
	Kenya	344,109	5,689
	Albania	337,196	3,608
	Botswana	330,696	2,801
	Mauritius	329,238	1,074
	Kosovo	274,279	3,212
	Algeria	272,173	6,881
	Nigeria	267,189	3,155
	Zimbabwe	266,396	5,740
	Montenegro	251,280	2,654
	Afghanistan	235,214	7,998
	Mozambique	233,845	2,252
	Martinique	230,354	1,104
	Laos	219,060	671
	Iceland	210,696	186
	Guadeloupe	203,235	1,021
	El Salvador	201,962	4,230
	Trinidad and Tobago	191,496	4,390
	Maldives	186,694	316
	Uzbekistan	175,081	1,016
	Namibia	172,556	4,110
	Ghana	172,227	1,462
	Uganda	172,159	3,632
	Jamaica	157,332	3,618
	Cambodia	139,325	3,056
	Rwanda	133,266	1,468
	Cameroon	125,279	1,974
	Malta	123,552	1,167
	Barbados	108,836	593
	Angola	107,482	1,937
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	100,980	1,474
	French Guiana	98,041	413
	Senegal	89,315	1,972
	Malawi	89,168	2,686
	Kyrgyzstan	88,953	1,024
	Ivory Coast	88,454	835
	Suriname	82,503	1,406
	New Caledonia	80,203	314
	French Polynesia	79,451	650
	Eswatini	75,356	1,427
	Guyana	74,491	1,302
	Belize	71,430	688
	Fiji	69,047	885
	Madagascar	68,575	1,428
	Jersey	66,391	161
	Cabo Verde	64,474	417
	Sudan	63,993	5,046
	Mauritania	63,876	997
	Bhutan	62,697	21
	Syria	57,423	3,163
	Burundi	54,569	15
	Guam	52,287	419
	Seychelles	51,892	172
	Gabon	49,056	307
	Andorra	48,015	159
	Papua New Guinea	46,864	670
	Curaçao	45,883	305
	Aruba	44,224	292
	Tanzania	43,298	846
	Mayotte	42,027	187
	Togo	39,535	290
	Bahamas	39,127	849
	Guinea	38,582	468
	Isle of Man	38,008	116
	Lesotho	36,138	709
	Guernsey	35,326	67
	Faroe Islands	34,658	28
	Haiti	34,594	860
	Mali	33,177	743
	Federated States of Micronesia	31,765	65
	Cayman Islands	31,472	37
	Saint Lucia	30,288	410
	Benin	28,036	163
	Somalia	27,334	1,361
	Solomon Islands	25,954	199
	United States Virgin Islands	25,389	132
	San Marino	25,292	126
	Republic of the Congo	25,234	389
	Timor-Leste	23,460	138
	Burkina Faso	22,155	400
	Liechtenstein	21,606	89
	Gibraltar	20,550	113
	Grenada	19,693	238
	Bermuda	18,860	165
	South Sudan	18,855	147
	Tajikistan	17,786	125
	Monaco	17,181	67
	Equatorial Guinea	17,130	183
	Samoa	17,057	31
	Tonga	16,992	13
	Marshall Islands	16,297	17
	Nicaragua	16,194	245
	Dominica	16,047	74
	Djibouti	15,690	189
	Central African Republic	15,443	113
	Northern Mariana Islands	14,985	41
	Gambia	12,627	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	9,528	315
	Comoros	9,109	160
	Antigua and Barbuda	9,106	146
	American Samoa	8,359	34
	Liberia	8,090	294
	Sierra Leone	7,985	126
	Chad	7,702	194
	British Virgin Islands	7,628	64
	Cook Islands	7,375	2
	Turks and Caicos Islands	6,826	40
	Sao Tome and Principe	6,771	80
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	6,607	46
	Palau	6,372	10
	Saint Barthélemy	5,507	5
	Nauru	5,393	1
	Kiribati	5,085	24
	Anguilla	3,904	12
	Wallis and Futuna	3,760	9
	Macau	3,514	121
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	3,426	2
	Tuvalu	2,943	1
	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	2,166	0
	Falkland Islands	1,923	0
	Montserrat	1,403	8
	Niue	1,092	0
	Tokelau	80	0
	Vatican City	26	0
	Pitcairn Islands	4	0
	Turkmenistan	0	0
	North Korea	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

Symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

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. (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

Goals of mitigation include delaying and reducing peak burden on healthcare (*flattening the curve*) and lessening overall cases and health impact.

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

23 October 2024 – Demographics of Germany, German economic crisis: The Ifo Institute for Economic Research reports that Germany experienced a 13% birth rate decline nationally and up to a 17.5% birth rate decline in eastern Germany between 2021 and 2023, with the institute attributing the decline to several reasons including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russo-Ukrainian war, and high inflation. (DW)
6 September 2024 –: The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces the end of its international adoption program after suspending the program during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Al Jazeera)

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 caused 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), 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. The pandemic led to governments providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus, and was also a factor in the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and 2022–2023 food crises.

Amidst the recovery and containment, the world economic system was characterized as experiencing significant, broad uncertainty. Economic forecasts and consensus among macroeconomics experts show significant disagreement on the overall extent, long-term effects and projected recovery. A large general increase in prices was attributed to the pandemic. In part, the record-high energy prices were driven by a global surge in demand as the world quit the economic recession caused by COVID-19, particularly due to strong energy demand in Asia. (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. Multiple layers of controls are recommended, including measures such as remote work and flextime, personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings, social distancing, and enhanced cleaning programs. Recently, engineering controls have been emphasized, particularly stressing the importance of HVAC systems meeting a minimum of 5 air changes per hour with ventilation or MERV-13 filters, as well as the installation of UVGI systems in public areas. (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 virus that cases COVID-19 and is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. 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)

Long COVID

Long COVID or long-haul COVID is a group of health problems persisting or developing after an initial period of COVID-19 infection. Symptoms can last weeks, months or years and are often debilitating. The World Health Organization defines long COVID as starting three months after the initial COVID-19 infection, but other agencies define it as starting at four weeks after the initial infection.

The causes of long COVID are not yet fully understood. Hypotheses include lasting damage to organs and blood vessels, problems with blood clotting, neurological dysfunction, persistent virus or a reactivation of latent viruses and autoimmunity. Diagnosis of long COVID is based on (suspected or confirmed) COVID-19 infection or symptoms—and by excluding alternative diagnoses. (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 24 November 2024, there are 2,479 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

Related portals

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Mathieu, Edouard; Ritchie, Hannah; Rodés-Guirao, Lucas; Appel, Cameron; Giattino, Charlie; Hasell, Joe; Macdonald, Bobbie; Dattani, Saloni; Beltekian, Diana; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban; Roser, Max (2020–2024). "Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2024-11-24.