User:Marta251/sandbox

Outbreak[ edit]
The goal of community mitigation, (1) delay outbreak peak (2) decompress peak burden on healthcare, known as flattening the curve (3) diminish overall cases and health impact. There are two basic strategies in the control of an outbreak: containment (or suppression) and mitigation. Containment is done in the early stages of the outbreak, and aims to trace and isolate those infected to stop the disease from spreading to the rest of the population. When it is no longer possible to contain the spread of the disease, efforts then move to the mitigation stage, when measures are taken to slow the spread and mitigate its effects on the health care system and society. A combination of both containment and mitigation measures may be undertaken at the same time.

Part of managing an infectious disease outbreak is trying to decrease the epidemic peak, known as flattening the epidemic curve. This decreases the risk of health services being overwhelmed and provides more time for vaccines and treatments to be developed. Non-pharmaceutical interventions that may manage the outbreak include personal preventive measures, such as hand hygiene, wearing face-masks and self-quarantine; community measures aimed at social distancing such as closing schools and cancelling mass gathering events; community engagement to encourage acceptance and participation in such interventions; as well as environmental measures such surface cleaning.

More drastic actions were taken in China once the severity of the outbreak became apparent, such as quarantining entire cities affecting 60 million individuals in Hubei, and strict travel bans. Other countries adopted a variety of measures aimed at limiting the spread of the virus. For example, South Korea introduced mass screening, localized quarantines, and issuing alerts on the movements of affected individuals. Singapore provided financial support for those infected who quarantine themselves and imposed large fines for those who failed to do so. Taiwan increased face-mask production, and penalized hoarding of medical supplies. Some countries require people to report flu-like symptoms to their doctor, especially if they have visited mainland China.

Simulations for Great Britain and the US shows that mitigation (slowing but not stopping epidemic spread) as well as suppression (reversing epidemic growth) has major challenges. Optimal mitigation policies might reduce peak healthcare demand by 2/3 and deaths by half, still resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths and health systems being overwhelmed. Suppression can be preferred but need to be maintained until a vaccine becomes available (at least 18 months later) as transmission quickly rebounds when relaxed, while long-term intervention causes social and economic costs.

Illness[ edit]
There are no specific antiviral medications approved for COVID-19, but development efforts are underway, including testing of existing medications. Attempts to relieve the symptoms may include taking regular (over-the-counter) cold medications, drinking fluids, taking a teaspoon of salt or two at a time, and resting. Depending on the severity, oxygen therapy, intravenous fluids and breathing support may be required. The use of steroids may worsen outcomes. Several compounds, which were previously approved for treatment of other viral diseases, are being investigated.

History[ edit]
Main article: Timeline of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic Cases by country plotted on a logarithmic scale The first known case of the novel coronavirus was traced back to 1 December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China. A later unconfirmed claim, citing Chinese government documents, suggests that the first victim was a 55-year-old man who fell ill on 17 November 2019.[under discussion] Within the next month, the number of coronavirus cases in Hubei gradually increased to a couple of hundred, before rapidly increasing in January 2020. On 31 December 2019, the virus had caused enough cases of unknown pneumonia to be reported to health authorities in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, China, and an investigation into the illness began early in the following month. These were mostly linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which also sold live animals, consequently the virus is thought to have a zoonotic origin.

During the early stages, the number of cases doubled approximately every seven and a half days. In early and mid-January 2020, the virus spread to other Chinese provinces, helped by the Chinese New Year migration, with Wuhan being a transport hub and major rail interchange in China; infected people quickly spread throughout the country. On 20 January, China reported nearly 140 new cases in a day, including two people in Beijing and one in Shenzhen. Later official data shows that 6,174 people had already developed symptoms by 20 January 2020.

On 30 January, the WHO declared the outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. On 24 February, its director, Tedros Adhanom, warned that the virus could become a global pandemic due to increasing numbers of cases outside China.

On 11 March, the WHO officially declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic, following a period of sustained community-level transmission in multiple different regions of the world. On 13 March, the WHO declared Europe to be the new centre of the pandemic, after the rate of new cases in Europe surpassed those recorded in other regions of the world apart from China. By 16 March 2020, the total number of cases reported around the world outside China had exceeded that of Mainland China. As of 19 March 2020, over 241,000 cases have been reported worldwide; more than 9,900 people have died; and over 88,000 have recovered.