COVID-19
contagious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),[5] a virus closely related to the SARS virus.[6][7][8]
The English used in this article or section may not be easy for everybody to understand. (April 2024) |
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) | |
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Other names | COVID, (the) coronavirus |
COVID-19 symptoms | |
Pronunciation | |
Medical specialty | Infectious disease |
Symptoms | Fever, cough, tiredness (fatigue), shortness of breath, vomiting, loss of taste or smell; sometimes without any symptoms[1][2] |
Complications | Pneumonia, viral sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, kidney failure, cytokine release syndrome, respiratory failure, pulmonary fibrosis, pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, chronic COVID syndrome |
Usual onset | 2-14 days (typically 5) from infection |
Duration | 5 days to 10+ months known |
Causes | SARS-CoV-2 |
Diagnostic method | rRT-PCR testing, CT scan, Rapid antigen test |
Prevention | Face coverings, quarantine, physical/social distancing, ventilation, hand washing,[3] vaccination[4] |
Treatment | Symptomatic and supportive |
Frequency | 775,335,902 confirmed cases |
Deaths | 7,045,569 |
The disease is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.[9][10] People who get the disease might get fever, dry cough, fatigue (tiredness), loss of taste or smell, and shortness of breath. A sore throat, runny nose, or sneezing is less common. In some cases, people might wheeze, have difficulty breathing, have fewer white blood cells, or not be hungry. [9][10] COVID-19 can kill people. COVID-19 has killed more than six million people around the world.[11] Some infected people are asymptomatic carriers, which means that they spread the virus without anybody knowing they're sick. About 6% of people who contract the disease suffer from long Covid,
The COVID-19 virus travels from one person to another through air droplets.