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 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease has since spread worldwide, leading to an ongoing pandemic.

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

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

The pandemic triggered 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 disruption and panic buying. The resultant near-global lockdowns saw an unprecedented pollution decrease. Educational institutions and public areas were partially or fully closed in many jurisdictions, and many events were cancelled or postponed. 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

This colorized transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S.

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. 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 10 February 2022, 403,244,280 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in 5,777,952 reported deaths.^[1]

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Updated February 10, 2022.

COVID-19 pandemic by location^[1]
	Location	Cases	Deaths
	World^[a]	403,244,280	5,777,952
	European Union^[b]	97,152,979	974,899
	United States	77,267,254	912,255
	India	42,478,060	506,520
	Brazil	26,972,914	635,421
	France	21,091,589	133,681
	United Kingdom	18,045,697	159,090
	Russia	13,128,679	330,609
	Turkey	12,554,674	89,477
	Italy	11,847,436	149,896
	Germany	11,832,331	119,457
	Spain	10,502,141	95,213
	Argentina	8,675,327	123,444
	Iran	6,696,927	133,164
	Colombia	5,994,301	136,404
	Netherlands	5,446,024	21,426
	Poland	5,258,785	107,204
	Mexico	5,192,008	310,627
	Ukraine	4,582,137	108,668
	Indonesia	4,580,093	144,719
	South Africa	3,631,642	96,502
	Philippines	3,623,176	54,690
	Japan	3,576,261	19,775
	Peru	3,397,637	207,536
	Belgium	3,386,223	29,497
	Israel	3,316,228	9,337
	Czech Republic	3,311,152	37,612
	Canada	3,159,212	35,114
	Portugal	2,997,770	20,354
	Malaysia	2,956,332	32,065
	Australia	2,822,873	4,422
	Thailand	2,545,873	22,364
	Switzerland	2,489,172	12,890
	Romania	2,482,394	61,092
	Chile	2,466,098	40,111
	Vietnam	2,404,651	38,614
	Sweden	2,372,637	16,358
	Iraq	2,263,525	24,600
	Austria	2,149,623	14,293
	Denmark	2,142,809	3,948
	Greece	2,109,999	24,410
	Bangladesh	1,887,271	28,703
	Serbia	1,806,086	14,171
	Slovakia	1,765,914	18,014
	Hungary	1,671,547	42,170
	Pakistan	1,474,075	29,648
	Jordan	1,396,430	13,409
	Georgia	1,375,615	15,351
	Kazakhstan	1,370,466	18,693
	Republic of Ireland	1,230,539	6,291
	South Korea	1,185,361	6,963
	Morocco	1,151,081	15,698
	Cuba	1,056,846	8,450
	Bulgaria	1,018,851	34,152
	Croatia	998,463	14,281
	Lebanon	993,095	9,769
	Nepal	970,462	11,852
	Norway	962,407	1,512
	Tunisia	954,726	26,889
	Bolivia	878,922	21,219
	Mongolia	863,372	2,137
	United Arab Emirates	862,514	2,273
	Slovenia	816,299	6,028
	Belarus	797,188	6,190
	Lithuania	776,794	8,031
	Ecuador	769,149	34,739
	Uruguay	749,554	6,696
	Costa Rica	745,949	7,730
	Panama	735,235	7,898
	Guatemala	720,802	16,542
	Saudi Arabia	719,136	8,962
	Azerbaijan	718,145	8,948
	Sri Lanka	623,248	15,692
	Paraguay	615,911	17,751
	Palestine	594,037	5,196
	Kuwait	590,565	2,514
	Dominican Republic	565,862	4,336
	Finland	546,782	2,126
	Myanmar	540,597	19,310
	Venezuela	499,537	5,504
	Latvia	476,730	4,978
	Moldova	474,548	10,837
	Ethiopia	467,001	7,397
	Libya	459,548	6,096
	Egypt	446,308	23,110
	Bahrain	442,062	1,418
	Singapore	428,954	881
	Estonia	398,519	2,088
	Armenia	396,885	8,108
	Honduras	391,874	10,512
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	359,876	14,897
	Oman	359,256	4,190
	Qatar	348,141	653
	Kenya	322,274	5,622
	Zambia	308,050	3,934
	North Macedonia	282,147	8,658
	Cyprus	280,643	761
	Albania	266,416	3,399
	Algeria	259,673	6,678
	Botswana	257,167	2,593
	Nigeria	253,875	3,139
	Uzbekistan	231,179	1,592
	Zimbabwe	230,740	5,367
	Montenegro	224,793	2,622
	Mozambique	224,494	2,186
	Kosovo	220,209	3,058
	Kyrgyzstan	199,714	2,913
	Luxembourg	171,452	966
	Afghanistan	168,550	7,465
	Uganda	162,510	3,570
	Ghana	157,751	1,419
	Namibia	156,519	3,984
	Maldives	154,511	286
	Laos	137,557	583
	El Salvador	135,109	3,967
	Rwanda	129,210	1,449
	Jamaica	126,437	2,706
	Cambodia	122,206	3,015
	Cameroon	117,676	1,907
	Trinidad and Tobago	117,525	3,495
	China^[c]	106,663	4,636
	Angola	98,453	1,896
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	85,708	1,316
	Senegal	85,282	1,956
	Malawi	84,915	2,580
	Iceland	81,981	50
	Ivory Coast	81,005	787
	Suriname	76,498	1,291
	Mauritius	70,862	786
	Malta	69,533	572
	Eswatini	68,702	1,381
	Fiji	63,398	816
	Guyana	61,901	1,188
	Madagascar	61,434	1,307
	Sudan	59,345	3,758
	Mauritania	58,527	971
	Cabo Verde	55,820	398
	Belize	54,758	631
	Syria	52,243	3,017
	French Polynesia	51,723	636
	Barbados	49,958	289
	Gabon	47,399	302
	Seychelles	38,293	157
	Curaçao	38,073	248
	Papua New Guinea	37,983	597
	Burundi	37,756	38
	Andorra	36,989	148
	Togo	36,612	270
	Guinea	36,297	432
	Tanzania	33,436	792
	Aruba	33,406	196
	New Caledonia	32,895	284
	Bahamas	32,833	753
	Lesotho	32,350	695
	Mali	30,236	715
	Haiti	29,888	806
	Benin	26,498	163
	Somalia	26,203	1,340
	Faroe Islands	25,625	20
	Republic of the Congo	23,854	375
	Isle of Man	22,014	73
	Saint Lucia	21,831	342
	Timor-Leste	20,942	122
	Burkina Faso	20,693	375
	Taiwan	19,293	851
	Brunei	18,845	98
	New Zealand	18,837	53
	Nicaragua	17,791	222
	Tajikistan	17,753	125
	South Sudan	16,873	137
	Cayman Islands	15,934	16
	Equatorial Guinea	15,850	182
	Hong Kong	15,811	215
	Djibouti	15,527	189
	Central African Republic	14,110	110
	Gibraltar	14,039	101
	San Marino	13,788	109
	Grenada	13,041	212
	Gambia	11,911	365
	Yemen	11,579	2,090
	Greenland	11,300	7
	Bermuda	11,058	119
	Liechtenstein	10,093	74
	Dominica	10,073	53
	Eritrea	9,652	102
	Monaco	8,922	49
	Niger	8,700	303
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	8,144	101
	Comoros	7,978	160
	Guinea-Bissau	7,813	158
	Sierra Leone	7,638	125
	Liberia	7,346	290
	Caribbean Netherlands	7,314	31
	Chad	7,216	190
	Antigua and Barbuda	6,853	131
	Bhutan	6,648	4
	British Virgin Islands	5,928	58
	Sao Tome and Principe	5,913	71
	Turks and Caicos Islands	5,806	35
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	5,492	39
	Solomon Islands	3,795	40
	Palau	2,956	0
	Anguilla	2,458	9
	Kiribati	2,173	1
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	1,002	1
	Wallis and Futuna	454	7
	Montserrat	163	2
	Falkland Islands	91	—
	Macau	79	—
	Tonga	35	—
	Samoa	33	—
	Vatican City	29	0
	Marshall Islands	7	—
	Vanuatu	7	1
	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	4	—
	Cook Islands	2	—
	Federated States of Micronesia	1	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)

Symptoms of COVID-19 are variable, ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Common symptoms include headache, loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia), nasal congestion and runny nose, cough, muscle pain, sore throat, fever, diarrhea, and breathing difficulties. People with the same 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; a cluster of digestive symptoms with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. In people without prior ear, nose, and throat disorders, loss of taste combined with loss of smell is associated with COVID-19 and is reported in as many as 88% of cases. (Full article...)

About the spread

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

The number of people generally infected by one infected person varies; as only 10 to 20% of people are responsible for the disease's spread. It often spreads in clusters, where infections can be traced back to an index case or geographical location. Often in these instances, superspreading events occur, where many people are infected by one person. (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

Play media

Animation describing the structure of a coronavirus
Play media

Video about what SARS-CoV-2 does to the human body
Play media

Video about the transmission of coronaviruses

(More videos...)

Recent news

10 February 2022 – COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 pandemic in Europe; COVID-19 pandemic in Spain; Spain lifts its outdoor mask mandate due to a decline in the spread of the Omicron variant. (GMA News Network); COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom; Charles, Prince of Wales, tests positive for COVID-19 for the second time. (Reuters); COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

Did you know?

... that a man suspected of carrying coronavirus in Nepal ran away from the hospital?
... that due to its similarity to the coronavirus pandemic, Warner Bros.' second most successful film of 2020 so far is 2011's Contagion?
... that months into the Philippines' coronavirus quarantine, the Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center remained grossly overcrowded, with only two pregnant women having been bailed?
... that a vote of no confidence was successfully brought against the Kurti cabinet following a cabinet minister's dismissal over disagreements on how to manage the coronavirus pandemic in Kosovo?
... that professor Neil Ferguson and his team believe that significantly more people in China have been infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus than has been reported?
(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 beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it. As the SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread around the globe, concerns have shifted from supply-side manufacturing issues to decreased business in the services sector. The pandemic caused the 2nd largest global recession in history, with more than a third of the global population at the time being placed on lockdown.

Global stock markets fell on 24 February 2020 due to a significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases outside mainland China. By 28 February 2020, stock markets worldwide realized their largest single-week declines since the financial crisis of 2007–2008. This culminated in the 2020 stock market crash. (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 coronavirus disease 2019 (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 telework and flexible schedules, increased ventilation, personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings, physical distancing, and enhanced cleaning programs. (Full article...)

Misinformation

COVID-19 misinformation refers to misinformation and conspiracy theories about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease COVID-19, which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. False information, including intentional disinformation, has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. False information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. Multiple 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 branches detect either the presence of the virus or of 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 severity and death caused by COVID‑19. Many countries have implemented phased distribution plans that prioritize 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 11 February 2022, there are 2,239 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

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 (2020–2021). "Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2022-02-10.