scholarly journals COVID-19: a novel zoonotic disease caused by a coronavirus from China: what we know and what we don't

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S Mackenzie ◽  
David W Smith

At the end of December, 2019, a new disease of unknown aetiology appeared in Wuhan, China. It was quickly identified as a novel betacoronavirus, and related to SARS-CoV and a number of other bat-borne SARS-like coronaviruses. The virus rapidly spread to all provinces in China, as well as a number of countries overseas, and was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the Director-General of the World Health Organization on 30 January 2020. This paper describes the evolution of the outbreak, and the known properties of the novel virus, SARS-CoV-2 and the clinical disease it causes, COVID-19, and comments on some of the important gaps in our knowledge of the virus and the disease it causes. The virus is the third zoonotic coronavirus, after SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, but appears to be the only one with pandemic potential.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 01-02
Author(s):  
Khadiga Ismail

COVID-19 has high transmissibility and infectivity among human. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) in an effort to slow down the global spread of the virus declared the outbreak, “A global public health emergency of international concern". The skin manifestations of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 were not recognized at the early stages of the pandemic but have received much recent attention in scientific journals. Reported manifestations range from pseudo-chilblains to a morbilliform (measles-like) exanthem, urticaria, vesicular eruptions, a dengue-like petechial rash and ovate scaling macules, and plaques mimicking pityriasis rosea.


Author(s):  
Ramesh Verma ◽  
Vinod Chayal ◽  
Meenakshi Kalhan ◽  
Rohit Dhaka ◽  
Ginni Agrawal ◽  
...  

Coronavirus disease is caused by a novel virus belonging to the family of corona viruses similar to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and  name given to the novel virus as SARS Coronavirus- 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease was named as COVID-19 on 11th February 2020 by World Health Organization (WHO). First case of this infection was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan city of China and after that it spread globally.3 On 30th January 2020, WHO declared this disease as Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and on 11th March 2020, WHO declared it as a pandemic when the infection was reported from all six WHO regions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (91) ◽  
pp. 271-286
Author(s):  
Jovana Blešić

The World Health Organization (WHO) is one of the UN specialized agencies. Its work and functions gained even more importance in 2020 with the emergence of the corona virus. The eyes of the entire international community focused on this organization and its Director General. Nowadays, its efficiency has been subject to various forms of criticism. In this paper, the author first provides a brief overview of this organization and its significance. The central part of the paper focuses on the activities of the WHO during the Covid-19 pandemic, through the clarification of the concept of public health emergency of international concern and the use of International Health Regulations. Finally, the author discusses the possible reform of this body. The aim of this paper is to familiarize the readers with the World Health Organization and put its activities in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-6
Author(s):  
Ken Thai

Pharmacists and our fellow healthcare colleagues typically expect a break from our “high season” of cough, cold, and flu patients that have filled our pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals by this time of the year. Everyone is prepping for the end of the winter and the dawning of spring. This year was unlike many as we have heard loud cries across the globe regarding the outbreak of the novel “new” coronavirus. The virus was first detected from the Wuhan City of China. It has since infected tens of thousands of people in China and across the world. In fact, the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the nation's healthcare community in responding. A proclamation was signed on January 31, 2020, by the United States to suspend entry of anyone who poses a risk of transmitting the coronavirus.


Author(s):  
Massimo Capoccia ◽  
Claudio De Lazzari ◽  
Domenico M. Pisanelli ◽  
Beatrice De Lazzari

On January 30, 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the international outbreak of new coronavirus 2019-nCoV (Public Health Emergency of International Concern -PHEIC), as enshrined in the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005). The current pandemic has uncovered our vulnerability and fears turning our lives upside down. We have been forced to a more resourceful approach with a view to contain and limit potential damage. The current events have put significant strain on hospital organisations all over the world.


Author(s):  
Oluwasegun Micheal Ibrahim ◽  
Damilola Daniel Ekundayo

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, to be a pandemic. Since the declaration, Nigeria economy has been greatly impacted thus resulting in a recession. This paper considers a couple of misconceptions among Nigerian people in the COVID-19 pandemic era thereby causing the spread of the novel virus and hence making the situation difficult for the government to handle. In particular, we discuss the first and second waves of the pandemic as it affects the Nigerian people. The impact of the pandemic on animals and the role of mathematical epidemiologists in combatting the spread is discussed herein. We give some recommendations that could be adopted by the government and the good people of Nigeria to reduce the further spread of the virus.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4s) ◽  
pp. 3-4
Author(s):  
George Amofah

The year 2020 has looked like a fairy tale as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world with devastating socio-economic and health consequences. The impact of the pandemic has depended, largely, on preparedness and response of countries, and their ability to adjust to the fast-evolving pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30th January 2020, and Ghana reported its first two confirmed cases on 12th March 2020.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-52
Author(s):  
Abigaela Rus ◽  
Nora Rat ◽  
Monica Chitu ◽  
Imre Benedek

Abstract The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The novel coronavirus has diverse manifestations, usually similar to a common cold or influenza. The majority of patients with coronavirus disease have typical imaging features. The typical CT characteristics of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia are ground-glass opacities and consolidative lesions with a peripheral and posterior distribution. Noninvasive imaging methods are precise and rapid means of diagnosing pneumonia and cardiovascular complications caused by COVID-19 infection. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to understand the implications of this pandemic and to be familiar with the different imaging aspects of the novel coronavirus disease. This review focuses on the most commonly reported imaging findings of COVID-19 infection in different patients from different countries, the expert recommendations, and the cardiac manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  

At the end of 2019 (December in Wuhan, China) a new disease was identified (Coronavirus Disease 2019 COVID-19) caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 [1,2]. The world was about to change completely; it became a public health emergency of international concern in January 2020 and in March 11 The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The COVID-19 Pandemic is ongoing and this highly infectious viral disease has claimed thousands lives worldwide, has caused the disruption of economics and social activities; religious, sports, political and cultural events have been cancelled. Social distancing, general hygiene measures and the use of face masks help prevent people from spreading COVID-19 and also protect wearers from being infected themselves. All activities have been impacted, how we live and interact with each other, family, friends, colleagues or strangers, how we work and communicate, how we move around in daily life and travel; COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world.


Author(s):  
Daibing Zhou ◽  
Peng Zhang ◽  
Chen Bao ◽  
Youzhi Zhang ◽  
Ning Zhu

The latest emergence of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) had caused an outbreak of respiratory virus infections in Wuhan, China, and other countries so that the world health organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 epidemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 31, 2020. At present, it is the fact that we have identified the bats as the host, the route of respiratory droplets, contact, and aerosol can accelerate the transmission from person to person. However, it is not well known about the intermediator and other approaches. Identifying and characterizing the origin and host(s) of COVID-19 can help us to evaluate the potential risk of COVID-19 for transmission among humans or cross-species.


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