Fact 1. Covid-19 and SARS-CoV-2 are not the same thing. Covid-19 is a disease (D stands for disease) caused by a new coronavirus. SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the virus itself.
Fact 2. CoV is short for CoronaVirus, Coronavirus. This is the name of the family of viruses (there are about 40 of them), which bear resemblance with the solar corona due to the spinous crests.
Fact 3. Coronaviruses are impostors from biology. The tailpiece of each spike “imitates” the molecule of a useful substance, so that the cellular receptors gladly pull it into themselves, and the whole virus is squeezed into the cell after the spike is in. This is how infection occurs.
Fact 4. The term "new coronavirus" (novel or nCoV) means that before neither scientists nor the cells met this virus before.
Fact 5. Over 2 million years of evolution, our immune system has learned to deal with most known infections, but the new coronavirus catches it by surprise, this it’s so hard to cope with and quite easy to get infected.
Fact 6. Once in a cell, the virus “seizes” control over it and forces it to endlessly produce its own copies - instead of its usual proteins. A chain reaction begins. As a result, the cell dies, but the carrier of the infection becomes contagious.
Fact 7. At the initial stage of infection, the new coronavirus actively reproduces itself in the throat and upper respiratory tract. Then the infection goes down and can reach the lungs, causing inflammation.
Fact 8. That is why the first symptom of infection is a cough. Only then the temperature begins to rise.
Fact 9. Or it does not begin - in 30% of patients in Wuhan, the temperature at the time of arrival at the hospital was normal.
Fact 10. Many people who become infected (18% or one in five people) do not even have a cough. The disease proceeds without any symptoms at all: a person may not even suspect that he is sick.
Fact 11. Moreover, such an asymptomatic patient is still an active carrier of infection and can infect others.
Fact 12. If Covid-19 proceeds benignantly, its symptoms are very similar to the usual seasonal flu: dry cough, fever, fatigue, sometimes muscle pain or headache.
Fact 13. Covid-19 is also treated in the same way as regular flu - at home, symptomatically.
Fact 14. One of the most unusual symptoms of coronavirus is the loss of a sense of taste and/or smell.
Fact 15. Loss of a sense of taste and/or smell is not a common symptom - is does not necessarily happens in all Covid-19 cases, sometimes it is the only symptom.
Fact 16. So if you suddenly stop smelling or tasting, this is a reason to grow suspicious and take measures.
Fact 17. Important: the carrier of a new coronavirus becomes dangerous to others immediately after being infected - long before the first symptoms (if any).
Fact 18. The good news: the more deadly a virus is, the worse it is spreading. By killing its master, the virus can no longer infect others. Therefore, the virus rarely mutates into a more deadly form, it is not in its interests.
Fact 19. The bad news: SARS-CoV-2 - is just from a different category. This virus makes its host a spreader, but it does not appear immediately or does not appear at all, so the carrier manages to infect several more people.
Fact 20. On average, each carrier of a new coronavirus manages to infect 2 to 4 healthy people. This number is higher than seasonal flu (1.3), but lower than measles (12+).
