The Disease and Symptoms:
I. First symptoms: dry cough and/or low fever.
Then sore throat, hoarse voice.
II. The defining symptom is, however, breathing difficulty.
Would come later.
Would call for hospitalisation; may even require use of ventilator.
III. 80% of the infected will get cured without, or with little, medical intervention.
5% would get critical.
Roughly.
IV. A large proportion of the infected won't exhibit any symptoms at all.
But, they'll infect others.
V. Those above 60 are specially vulnerable.
The degree of vulnerability rises sharply with age.
Also specially vulnerable are infants, very young and those with lower immunity - because of other maladies or malnutrition or whatever.
VI. Normally, the route of progression is from dry cough to sore throat to pneumonia.
But, in some cases, other organs may also be affected and, thereby, upset stomach or even indigestion.
VII. The incubation period - the time taken for symptoms to show up on getting infected, is, usually, 2-14 days.
Average about 6 days.
There's, at least, one reported case of 27 days.
How It Spreads:
The virus spreads from an infected, even if without symptoms, human to another.
Strategy to Fight:
So, one of the strategies is to drastically cut down the level of human interactions.
To reduce the speed of spread - "to flatten the curve", to make it more manageable.
But, there have got to be other measures: aggressive testing, isolation of the infected, proper and adequate facilities for treatment of those who require - on top of provisions ensuring appropriate personal protection for engaged health workers and, also, the general populace.
The Current Trend:
The graphs representing the numbers of confirmed infected and, consequent, deaths, on the global scale, are both rising exponentially, despite China - the original site, by now, having stabilised.
(Ref.: <https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/>.)
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