COVID-19 is a serious global infectious disease outbreak with nearly 550,000 cases and around 25,000 deaths worldwide. It is part of a family of viruses called coronaviruses that infect both animals and people. This particular one originated in China at the end of 2019, in the city of Wuhan, which has 11 million residents. In the past two decades coronavirus, outbreaks have caused global concern, including one in 2003 with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and more recently in 2012 with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
COVID-19 can cause symptoms very similar to the flu – fever and a dry cough (the two most common symptoms), fatigue, aches and pains, and nasal congestion. As the pandemic spread around the world, other symptoms such as a loss of sense of smell or taste have emerged – these are not yet conclusive evidence of infection with the new coronavirus, and the World Health Organization is investigating this.
Severe cases can lead to serious respiratory disease, and even pneumonia. Those most at risk are the elderly, or people with underlying medical issues, such as heart problems or diabetes. According to the most recent global numbers (27 March 2020), 14.8% of people over 80 years old, infected with the virus, have died from it, compared with 0.4% in people aged 40-49% and none in children under 9 years. The situation across countries is rapidly changing, and these numbers will continue to change as the pandemic shifts.
Despite most deaths still being in older people, it is clear that many young people with the virus can still develop serious infection that requires hospitalization.
The evidence so far indicates that the virus is spread from person to person through small respiratory droplets. When a person coughs or sneezes, these droplets can also land on nearby surfaces. There is also evidence that the COVID-19 virus can last on surfaces – especially plastic or metal – for up to 3 days. This is why advice to avoid catching COVID-19 has focused on handwashing with soap, the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizing gels and keeping a distance from people who are symptomatic.
Countries are racing to slow the spread of the disease by testing and treating patients, carrying out contact tracing, limiting travel, quarantining citizens, and cancelling large gatherings such as sporting events, concerts, and schools.
But COVID-19 is much more than a health crisis. By stressing every one of the countries it touches, it has the potential to create devastating social, economic and political crises that will leave deep scars
Every day, people are losing jobs and income, with no way of knowing when normality will return. Small island nations, heavily dependent on tourism, have empty hotels and deserted beaches. The International Labour Organization estimates that 25 million jobs could be lost.
A deeper understanding of the social determinants of health in the context of the current crisis, and of the role that these factors play in mediating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on African Americans’ health outcomes, increases our awareness of the indivisibility of all human rights and the collective dimension of the right to health. We need a more explicit equity agenda that encompasses both formal and substantive equality.[42] Besides nondiscrimination and equality, participation and accountability are equally crucial.
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