How did the covid virus affected our world

World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus a pandemic. But what does Pandemic really mean? A Pandemic describes an infection disease where we see significant and ongoing person-to-person spread in multiple countries around the world at the same time. The term is associated with geographic spread, and it does not change the approach of curing the disease. A pandemic is a worldwide spread of a disease or an infection that affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population. Pandemic is the highest level of global health emergency and signifies widespread outbreaks affecting multiple world regions.

 What really is the difference between a Pandemic and an Epidemic? The epidemic affects little several people, and it’s confined to a certain region. It starts with affecting the region or the country and starts infecting a large part of the population of that region. For example, EBOLA spread was an epidemic affecting only Western Africa, SARS outbreak in China was also an epidemic that killed over 800 people. On the other hand, a pandemic is an epidemic that spreads to multiple regions of the world. Pandemic is used in a global sense. Plagues, yellow fever, HIV/AIDS, influenza are some examples of pandemic diseases. One of the most devastating pandemic BLACK DEATH in the 14^th century killed an estimated 75-200 million people. The last official pandemic was recorded in 2009 with the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as “Swine flu.” Now the coronavirus emerged in China and has spread around the world in more than 100 countries. It stopped usual operations such as industries, schools and caused the cancellation of various events. WHO talks about the situation and declared a pandemic and how fast it is spreading to other countries.

In December 2019, there were pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan in China. Some of the early cases were reported visiting or working in seafood and live animal markets in Wuhan. The investigation found that  caused the diseasethe newly discovered coronavirus caused the disease. The disease was subsequently named COVID-19, which spread in china and to the rest of the world. On 30^th January 2020, the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International concern.

What is CORONAVIRUS?

 A coronavirus is a large group of viruses. They consist of a core of genetic material surrounded by a lipid envelope with protein spikes. This keeps the appearance of a crown. Crown is called the corona, and that’s how these viruses get their name. There are different types of coronaviruses that causing illness in animals and humans. In humans, coronaviruses can cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. These includes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-Cov), first identified in China in 2003, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-Cov) that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012, and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-Cov2), the name in the virus that causes COVID-19 that was first recorded in December 2019 in China.

Origin of the Virus-

 So, where do these new viruses come from? Coronaviruses circulate in a range of animals. Sometimes these viruses can make the jump from animals to humans; this is called spillover. This could be due to a range of factors such as a muvirus mutation or increased between humans and animals. For example, MERS-Cov is known to be transmitted from camels,, and SARS-Cov is transmitted from cats. The animal reason for the new coronavirus is not known yet.

How does the disease spread?

The disease can spread from person o person through droplets when an infected person releases those droplets through talking, coughing,, or sneezing,, for example,, when close to another person. It can also spread when an infected droplet land on objects and when another person touches them and then touches their eyes, nose,, or mouth.

What are the Symptoms?

The Incubation period,, is the time taken from exposure to the virus and development in symptoms,, is an average of of 5-6 days but can range from 1 to 14 days. There can be a range of symptoms from very mild to severe. Some people may not develop symptoms. A common symptom includes fever, fatigue,, and respiratory symptoms such as sore throat, cough,, and shortness of breath. Some people reported losing their sense of smell or taste,, and some might develop a skin rash. In more severe cases,, there could be pneumonia, organ failure,, and sometimes death.

About 80% of the cases recover from the disease without needing any special treatment. But some people are at risk of serious illness. They include older people or people with underlying medical problems such as chronic respiratory disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease,, or cancer.

Diagnosis-

 How can we know whether someone is infected? The infection is commonly diagnosis by a test called Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction,, generally known as RTPCR. This test identifies the virus based on its genetic fingerprint. Conclusion: y'there is also a blood test that can check for antibodies against the virus,,, which may be sure that someone was infected in the past.

How do we prevent transmission of the virus?

 There are no effective ways to prevent the spread of the disease. These include; covering your nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing with a tissue and throwing the tissue in a closed bin immediately after use, wash hands regularly with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand wash, maintaining at least 1-meter distance from people,, and the appropriate use of masks and personal protective equipment (PPE), especially in health settings.

What is the Educational Impact of the Coronavirus?

Covid-19 will forever be known as the virus that shuts down the world. It has changed our lives in many ways that we never thought possible. One of the most significant impacts of this pandemic has been in education,,,, where it has led to the largest disruption of the the the global education system in history. When schools and colleges worldwide closed due to Covid-19 lockdowns, students and educators alike were left wondering what the future holds. Remote or virtual learning has replaced traditional classrooms; however, the switch from pen and paper to online education comes at a high cost. Technology like computers and high-speed internet needed to attend remote learning sessions is not readily available to students from low-income families.

This has led to a lot of educational inequality in this new virtual learning system. Even though many governments worldwide provided laptops and internet services to students in need, these efforts have not been enough to avoid the educational inequality experienced by students. Children who depend on schools for their daily meals are also at risk of going hungry due to school closures. Schools and colleges are also places where students socialize with their peers and icipateparticipate in extracurricular activities like sports and arts. However, due to the closure of educational institutions, such gathering,, and fun activities have all disappeared. Not having physical,, social interactions has affected students' mental well-beingof whom report feeling isolated and lonely since they cannot meet their classmates and friends. The switch to remote learning happened abruptly, which left students andrs and school officials scrambling to adapt to the the virtualthe  learning systems fast. Teachers had to figure out tasks like creatingentations for remote classrooms, perfoabsperforming, tech arts and crafts virtually,,, etc.,,, without having received adequate training to do so. Many educators also find it harder to gauge and maintain student engagement in remote sessions than in-person classes. Students also find it hard to ask questions and get the necessary help from the teachers in the virtual sclassroomsclassrooms.