Portal:COVID-19

The COVID-19 portal

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.

Transmission and life-cycle of SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19.

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 transmission. 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

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

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 6 March 2022, 445,129,499 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in 5,995,245 reported deaths.^[1]

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Updated March 6, 2022.

COVID-19 pandemic by location^[1]
	Location	Cases	Deaths
	World^[a]	445,129,499	5,995,245
	European Union^[b]	111,173,878	1,019,441
	United States	79,265,726	958,437
	India	42,962,953	515,036
	Brazil	29,040,800	652,216
	France	23,064,766	139,312
	United Kingdom	19,172,095	162,152
	Russia	16,619,507	348,467
	Germany	15,830,112	124,107
	Turkey	14,326,217	95,379
	Italy	12,990,223	155,782
	Spain	11,100,428	100,413
	Argentina	8,934,328	126,708
	Iran	7,084,306	137,747
	Netherlands	6,734,097	21,714
	Colombia	6,070,616	139,037
	Poland	5,734,041	112,535
	Indonesia	5,723,858	149,918
	Mexico	5,554,392	319,604
	Japan	5,341,246	24,816
	Ukraine	5,040,518	112,459
	South Korea	4,456,264	8,957
	Vietnam	4,232,520	40,726
	South Africa	3,683,172	99,543
	Israel	3,669,112	10,274
	Philippines	3,666,678	56,879
	Czech Republic	3,624,937	38,892
	Malaysia	3,595,172	33,173
	Belgium	3,586,292	30,259
	Peru	3,522,484	210,907
	Australia	3,362,035	5,416
	Canada	3,334,009	36,998
	Portugal	3,322,134	21,182
	Chile	3,168,335	42,955
	Thailand	3,026,695	23,235
	Switzerland	2,890,568	13,174
	Denmark	2,853,236	4,830
	Austria	2,839,297	14,986
	Romania	2,765,169	63,931
	Greece	2,499,259	26,143
	Sweden	2,455,966	17,512
	Iraq	2,307,555	25,041
	Slovakia	2,190,599	18,663
	Bangladesh	1,946,737	29,077
	Serbia	1,923,977	15,405
	Hungary	1,800,046	44,286
	Jordan	1,638,228	13,849
	Georgia	1,623,672	16,338
	Pakistan	1,514,258	30,265
	Kazakhstan	1,391,984	18,967
	Republic of Ireland	1,315,100	6,531
	Norway	1,305,006	1,664
	Morocco	1,161,586	16,015
	Bulgaria	1,100,811	35,811
	Lebanon	1,077,242	10,142
	Cuba	1,072,474	8,499
	Croatia	1,062,953	15,194
	Tunisia	1,005,167	27,922
	Nepal	977,447	11,945
	Belarus	929,340	6,550
	Lithuania	928,612	8,503
	Mongolia	911,183	2,174
	Slovenia	902,744	6,351
	Bolivia	894,551	21,455
	United Arab Emirates	882,477	2,301
	Uruguay	853,170	7,040
	Ecuador	836,216	35,264
	Singapore	819,663	1,073
	Costa Rica	814,583	8,082
	Guatemala	791,944	17,073
	Azerbaijan	788,958	9,500
	Panama	757,487	8,111
	Saudi Arabia	747,119	9,006
	Latvia	697,548	5,348
	Finland	671,773	2,387
	Palestine	649,971	5,557
	Sri Lanka	649,632	16,321
	Paraguay	643,619	18,460
	Kuwait	622,489	2,544
	Myanmar	597,417	19,386
	Dominican Republic	575,883	4,371
	Bahrain	525,171	1,458
	Venezuela	516,578	5,647
	Estonia	514,067	2,290
	Moldova	504,875	11,285
	Libya	497,279	6,288
	Egypt	489,876	24,172
	Ethiopia	468,930	7,476
	Hong Kong	440,609	1,774
	Armenia	421,226	8,528
	Honduras	413,699	10,785
	Oman	383,874	4,248
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	372,139	15,519
	Qatar	358,083	670
	Cyprus	331,508	875
	Kenya	323,071	5,640
	Zambia	313,744	3,958
	North Macedonia	299,419	9,075
	Albania	272,030	3,478
	Algeria	265,227	6,853
	Botswana	263,950	2,619
	Nigeria	254,637	3,142
	Zimbabwe	239,019	5,397
	Uzbekistan	236,840	1,637
	Montenegro	230,887	2,685
	Kosovo	226,579	3,117
	Mozambique	225,135	2,196
	New Zealand	222,767	65
	Kyrgyzstan	200,615	2,963
	Luxembourg	186,360	996
	Afghanistan	174,331	7,622
	Maldives	172,270	297
	Uganda	163,383	3,590
	Ghana	160,028	1,442
	Namibia	157,324	4,013
	El Salvador	156,364	4,086
	Laos	143,969	628
	Iceland	140,929	68
	Cambodia	132,072	3,040
	Trinidad and Tobago	129,963	3,652
	Rwanda	129,551	1,458
	Jamaica	128,166	2,825
	Cameroon	119,322	1,926
	China^[c]	110,868	4,636
	Angola	98,796	1,900
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	86,154	1,335
	Senegal	85,747	1,961
	Malawi	85,411	2,618
	Brunei	84,844	140
	Ivory Coast	81,546	795
	Suriname	78,487	1,318
	Malta	71,800	608
	Mauritius	70,862	786
	Eswatini	69,297	1,391
	French Polynesia	68,425	642
	Fiji	64,019	834
	Madagascar	63,791	1,373
	Guyana	63,040	1,223
	Sudan	61,569	3,912
	Mauritania	58,646	980
	Belize	56,876	651
	New Caledonia	56,833	302
	Barbados	56,013	319
	Cabo Verde	55,892	401
	Syria	54,963	3,092
	Gabon	47,559	303
	Papua New Guinea	41,421	638
	Seychelles	39,427	163
	Curaçao	39,133	264
	Andorra	38,434	151
	Burundi	38,150	38
	Togo	36,815	272
	Guinea	36,397	440
	Faroe Islands	34,658	28
	Aruba	33,732	212
	Tanzania	33,620	798
	Bahamas	33,169	771
	Lesotho	32,707	697
	Mali	30,398	724
	Haiti	30,385	823
	Benin	26,575	163
	Somalia	26,351	1,348
	Republic of the Congo	24,020	378
	Isle of Man	23,328	80
	Timor-Leste	22,741	129
	Saint Lucia	22,733	360
	Taiwan	20,797	853
	Burkina Faso	20,751	375
	Cayman Islands	19,373	17
	Nicaragua	18,105	225
	Tajikistan	17,786	125
	South Sudan	16,999	137
	Equatorial Guinea	15,889	183
	Gibraltar	15,609	101
	Djibouti	15,550	189
	San Marino	14,487	112
	Bhutan	14,451	7
	Central African Republic	14,320	113
	Grenada	13,690	216
	Liechtenstein	12,833	78
	Gambia	11,948	365
	Greenland	11,806	20
	Yemen	11,775	2,135
	Bermuda	11,634	123
	Dominica	11,248	61
	Eritrea	9,715	103
	Monaco	9,537	51
	Niger	8,760	307
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	8,316	106
	Comoros	8,047	160
	Guinea-Bissau	8,027	167
	Solomon Islands	7,940	115
	Sierra Leone	7,665	125
	Caribbean Netherlands	7,616	31
	Antigua and Barbuda	7,455	135
	Liberia	7,384	294
	Chad	7,257	190
	British Virgin Islands	6,091	62
	Sao Tome and Principe	5,939	72
	Turks and Caicos Islands	5,867	36
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	5,536	42
	Palau	3,844	6
	Kiribati	2,985	11
	Anguilla	2,555	9
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	1,102	1
	Tonga	898	1
	Wallis and Futuna	454	7
	Montserrat	164	2
	Falkland Islands	115	—
	Macau	82	—
	Samoa	33	—
	Vatican City	29	0
	Vanuatu	18	1
	Marshall Islands	7	—
	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

(c) Scientific Animations, CC BY 3.0
Play media
Animation describing the structure of a coronavirus
(c) World Economic Forum, CC BY 3.0
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

6 March 2022 – Protests against responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: A convoy of truckers inspired by the Canadian convoy protesters gather at the Capital Beltway in Washington, D.C. to call for all COVID-19 restrictions and mandates to be lifted. (CNN)
5 March 2022 – COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 pandemic in Asia; COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia will lift their COVID-19 restrictions including PCR COVID-19 testing requirements along with requirements for travelers to quarantine. (Khaleej Times); COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea; South Korea reports a record 216 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death roll to 8,796. The country also surpasses 4 million cases of COVID-19. (The Korea Herald)

Did you know?

... 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?
... that "Catch It, Bin It, Kill It" (poster shown), a slogan first used in 2007, has been revived to fight the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom?
... that infectious disease specialist Daniel R. Lucey has hypothesised that the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak may have been quietly circulating among humans since at least November 2019?
... 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 industry analysts have predicted that up to 75 percent of independent restaurants in the U.S. will not survive the coronavirus pandemic?
(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. Many 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 6 March 2022, there are 2,253 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

Related portals

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 2022-03-06.

Associated Wikimedia

Scholia has a profile for SARS-CoV-2 (Q82069695).

[2] Countries which do not report data for a column are not included in that column's world total.

[3] 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.

[4] Does not include special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau) or Taiwan.

[Template:COVID-19_data-1] 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 2022-03-06.

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