The
great human race came to a standstill in the year 2020 due to the deadly Corona
virus also known as COVID-19. The outbreak began in the wet markets of
Wuhan city located in Hubei province of China. Though the origin of this
outbreak is still a mystery, our best researches indicates the origin to be a wet
market in China. There were as few as 40 infections during December 2019 in Wuhan. However,
it has now spread to 213 countries and territories around the world resulting
in 6,463,647 infections and 382,709 deaths.
COVID-19
has affected all forms of business around the world. There isn’t a single
industry that hasn’t been touched by Corona Virus. Be it tourism, travel,
agriculture, retail stores, there isn’t a single area that has been affected by
COVID-19. However, most of the impact was borne by the health sector. It changed the way how we define human health.
For
one, Nations understood that having superior medical infrastructure in their
country is not enough as long as other nations are also able to resolve their
medical deficiencies. Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, President of the
European Commission urged all nations to pool their resources in
fighting off COVID-19 as she understood that this is a world health issue and
nations cannot succeed unless they all cooperate.
We
do not know much about the Novel Corona Virus. Scientists are on a race to
develop a vaccine for fighting off COVID-19. So far, an American company named
Moderna has shown promise in the development of Corona Virus vaccine as they
have entered phase II of their clinical trial. It has been an unprecedented
rate of vaccine development as the process usually takes 10 to 20 years.
Although,
the SARS CoV 2 is not airborne, it can linger in the air for some time. COVID-19
spreads through droplets coming out of an infected person’s nose or mouth while
the person talks, breathes or sneezes. Infection from large droplets can be avoided
easily by maintaining a minimum distance from other person as these droplets
fall to the ground quickly. However, the small droplets can reach further
distances and can be carried by the wind. That is why it is essential to wear
face masks for preventing COVID-19.
A
study conducted by German scientists in the small city of Heinsberg, also known
as Wuhan of Germany, revealed some facts about the SARS CoV 2. They found out
that traces of Corona Virus was still present in the many of the items used by the
infected persons even though it was not enough to start a new infection.
American Homeland Security Department, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) all came to the conclusion that
Corona Virus is less likely to spread through non genetic material as they
become inactive once they get exposed.
As
much of the world is still trying to control the spread of COVID 19, a
vaccination seems to be the only way out of this. However, it will be foolish
to not to look into the development of treatment methods for COVID -19 as
vaccination may not be 100% successful.
