Honestly until today I had not given it any weight, and it would not have been appropriate to talk about it in the pages of this blog, but now that the nCoV or COVID-19 virus, now called by all Coronavirus, has also arrived in Italy, it is worth spending two words. In this regard, leaving aside medical explanations that do not belong to me, it is very interesting to report a site that is keeping track of contagions all over the world in real time, with precise statistics and a map that is updated every hour . Without alarmism, it is undeniable that the news about this new Coronavirus is starting to be more worrying than might have been expected.
The history of the coronavirus (COVID-19) starts, it seems, from 8 December 2019, with some stablemen of the fish market in Wuhan found infected. December 31, 2019 is the date on which the World Health Organization (WHO) is warned about the existence of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin detected in the city of Wuhan (seventh largest city in China with 11 million people, important air transport hub in central China), in the province of Hubei, China. On 10 January, gene sequencing determined that it is a new coronavirus (respiratory virus), the 2019-nCoV, a betacoronavirus, related to the Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome virus (MERS) and the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus ( SARS). However, the mortality and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV are still unknown and probably vary from those of the previously mentioned coronaviruses.
Only on January 20, China's National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed that coronavirus can be transmitted between humans. Infection cases with 2019-nCoV were confirmed on the same day in Japan and South Korea and the following day also in the United States and Taiwan. Several Chinese provinces also reported new cases on January 21 and the infection was confirmed with six reported victims. In attempts to mitigate local broadcasting in China, unprecedented epidemic control strategies have been implemented in Wuhan and other cities, with the suspension of all public transportation and air travel, putting all 11 million residents in quarantine. On January 24, the same fate fell to 2 other cities, Huanggang and Ezhou, and celebrations for the Chinese New Year were canceled throughout China.
On January 22, an WHO emergency committee met to discuss whether the epidemic should be classified as a public health emergency of international interest (PHEIC), which occurred on January 30. This does not mean that we will all die or that the disease is no longer under control, but simply that the virus has crossed international borders in a way that requires countries to work together to prevent the situation from worsening further.
What has emerged so far (according to current data) is that it is a virus with a low mortality rate of 3%, but with a contagion that can occur during the incubation period, therefore even before the symptoms appear of disease and fever. With these characteristics there would be a certain ease of spread, as is evident when looking at the data of the spread map of the Coronavirus epidemic in real time .
The map is published on the //gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html website.
It is possible to see the world map with as many red dots as there are certified contagions with coronavirus. You can enlarge the map and move it to see the detail of the infection in China, where 80000 cases have been counted so far, to which other cases must be added all over the world for a total of 116, 000 infections. The figure is decidedly high, and from the diffusion graph it can be seen that it is increasing more and more slowly in China and increasingly rapidly in Europe and the USA.
As mentioned before, the virus mortality is rather low, mostly for older people or people with other problems. The real problem is in the overcrowding of hospitals and in the number of patients who need to stay in intensive care to breathe. According to the news that can be found online, the symptoms of coronavirus are exactly those of the flu: cold, cough, sore throat, fever. In case of complications, however, it can become similar to pneumonia causing shortness of breath therefore, in the absence of adequate treatments, it can therefore be fatal. There are no vaccines (and I don't think there will be any soon) and there are no special therapies to deal with this disease.
The transmission of the virus, as well as the flu, takes place by air, staying a certain period of time inside a closed place with an infected. It therefore seems to be quite useless to go around with normal masks (it takes the FFP2 or FFP3 masks, practically unobtainable; on Amazon those that are there cost a lot).
The history of the coronavirus (COVID-19) starts, it seems, from 8 December 2019, with some stablemen of the fish market in Wuhan found infected. December 31, 2019 is the date on which the World Health Organization (WHO) is warned about the existence of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin detected in the city of Wuhan (seventh largest city in China with 11 million people, important air transport hub in central China), in the province of Hubei, China. On 10 January, gene sequencing determined that it is a new coronavirus (respiratory virus), the 2019-nCoV, a betacoronavirus, related to the Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome virus (MERS) and the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus ( SARS). However, the mortality and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV are still unknown and probably vary from those of the previously mentioned coronaviruses.
Only on January 20, China's National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed that coronavirus can be transmitted between humans. Infection cases with 2019-nCoV were confirmed on the same day in Japan and South Korea and the following day also in the United States and Taiwan. Several Chinese provinces also reported new cases on January 21 and the infection was confirmed with six reported victims. In attempts to mitigate local broadcasting in China, unprecedented epidemic control strategies have been implemented in Wuhan and other cities, with the suspension of all public transportation and air travel, putting all 11 million residents in quarantine. On January 24, the same fate fell to 2 other cities, Huanggang and Ezhou, and celebrations for the Chinese New Year were canceled throughout China.
On January 22, an WHO emergency committee met to discuss whether the epidemic should be classified as a public health emergency of international interest (PHEIC), which occurred on January 30. This does not mean that we will all die or that the disease is no longer under control, but simply that the virus has crossed international borders in a way that requires countries to work together to prevent the situation from worsening further.
What has emerged so far (according to current data) is that it is a virus with a low mortality rate of 3%, but with a contagion that can occur during the incubation period, therefore even before the symptoms appear of disease and fever. With these characteristics there would be a certain ease of spread, as is evident when looking at the data of the spread map of the Coronavirus epidemic in real time .
The real-time map of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection
The map is published on the //gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html website.
It is possible to see the world map with as many red dots as there are certified contagions with coronavirus. You can enlarge the map and move it to see the detail of the infection in China, where 80000 cases have been counted so far, to which other cases must be added all over the world for a total of 116, 000 infections. The figure is decidedly high, and from the diffusion graph it can be seen that it is increasing more and more slowly in China and increasingly rapidly in Europe and the USA.
Italy map Coronavirus
In Italy, there are more than 10, 000 infected to date and it is possible to see all the cities and regions where they occurred in this map updated in real time by the Civil Protection.As mentioned before, the virus mortality is rather low, mostly for older people or people with other problems. The real problem is in the overcrowding of hospitals and in the number of patients who need to stay in intensive care to breathe. According to the news that can be found online, the symptoms of coronavirus are exactly those of the flu: cold, cough, sore throat, fever. In case of complications, however, it can become similar to pneumonia causing shortness of breath therefore, in the absence of adequate treatments, it can therefore be fatal. There are no vaccines (and I don't think there will be any soon) and there are no special therapies to deal with this disease.
The transmission of the virus, as well as the flu, takes place by air, staying a certain period of time inside a closed place with an infected. It therefore seems to be quite useless to go around with normal masks (it takes the FFP2 or FFP3 masks, practically unobtainable; on Amazon those that are there cost a lot).
