Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): The Global Pandemic

By now, all people around the world have some idea about the Corona Virus. According to the WHO, Covid-19 or the Corona Virus disease is the biggest pandemic and global disaster happened after the World War-II. The root cause of Covid-19 originated in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China in 2019. Literally, the Covid-19 is caused by the new corona virus named SARS-CoV-2.

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

The most common symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, fatigue and dry cough which lasts even after the 14 days of infection. Besides, there are some other symptoms which are not common to all. The following Table contains all the symptoms according to their frequency.

Common Covid-19 Symptoms	Less Common Covid-19 Symptoms	Severe Covid-19 Symptoms	Other Less Common Symptoms
Fever	Muscle or joint pain	Shortness of breath	Irritability
Dry cough	Skin rashes	Loss of appetite	Confusion
Fatigue	Nausea or vomiting	High temperature	Reduced consciousness
	Diarrhea	Confusion	Anxiety
	Loss of taste or smell	Persistent pain/ pressure in the chest	Depression
	Nasal congestion		Sleeping disorders
	Conjunctivitis/red eyes		More severe and rare neurological complications like strokes, brain etc.
	Sore throat
	Headache
	Chills or dizziness

Who Are Mostly Affected By COVID-19?

Generally, people above 60 years and children are mostly vulnerable to this respiratory disease. However, age does not matter when people contract this disease. Especially, people with chronic illnesses are vulnerable to the dangers of this virus. As I have mentioned in the above Table, symptoms are many. They vary and affect patients differently. Therefore, anyone who has fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, chest pain and pressure need to seek immediate medical supervision. Because they are the first signs you have as a Covid-19 patient.

How to recover from Covid-19

In the beginning, we got to hear unfortunate deaths. Some people died inside buses, trains and in markets as well. After proper global awareness, people with above-mentioned symptoms hospitalized themselves. Later on, the rapid progression of the number of patients resulted in exceeding the hospital capacity. At present, most patients are treated at home. Fortunately, 80% of covid-19 patients recover at homes without needing hospitalization. However, 15% of Covid-19 patients become seriously ill that they need oxygen supply. Most critical cases require intensive care attention.

Why People Die from Covid-19?

Since Covid-19 is a respiratory failure due to virus, patients with earlier respiratory issues face worse situations. As a result, majority of deaths can be due to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), thromboembolism, multiorgan failure, sepsis and septic shock and injury of the heart, liver or kidneys etc.

Even though people in the group of child age and adulthood are the risky category, anyone who contract Covid-19 can become seriously ill and die. This is mainly because the lack of perfect treatment for this disease.

In some rare situations, children are likely to develop a severe inflammatory syndrome after few weeks of infection. When it comes to chronic illness patients like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and lung problems, obesity or cancer are prone to severe conditions of Covid-19.

Covid-19 Treatments

By now, it has been nearly more than one and half years that Covid-19 virus began to spread around the world. In the beginning, people died due to covid-19 even without proper diagnosis. After one year, vaccines were introduced as a solution to the prevailing spread of the virus. However, they are not supportive enough to cure the virus infection completely. Instead, they improve the ability to fight against the virus. However, people who face critical conditions, are given oxygen. Moreover, Dexamethasone corticosteroid reduces a patient’s length of time on a ventilator and save lives. No matter hospital capacities are full by now, WHO does not recommend self-medication. Even the patients at home, are required to get medical prescriptions online during their quarantine period.

How To Protect From Covid-19

The safest way to protect yourself is to follow medical advices. Simply you need to

1. Get the vaccine
2. Wear a face mask properly
3. Wash your hands well
4. Use a hand sanitizer
5. Reduce contact with others
6. Reduce unnecessary outings and gatherings

Even though, you follow these steps you can contract the virus for some reason. Therefore, it is better you get the vaccine. By now most of the countries have started vaccination process. And they believe that it is necessary to vaccine at least 60% to 70% of the population to reduce the spread of the virus.

 How Do I Know Whether I Have Covid-19?

One reason you can expose to Covid-19 is using public transportation. Similarly, gatherings and direct contact with a Covid-19 patient can put you in the risk. But how do you exactly know that you have the virus? I can share my experience with you. Two weeks ago, I had fever, cold and cough. However, I did not sense any change in smell or taste (and I learnt that it is visible in some patients only). So, I tried a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) which was positive. Within the first 7 to 9 days, you will feel fatigue and will not feel like doing anything. At night, it is likely to have respiratory issues. I can recommend you have two pillows when sleeping and not to drink or wash with cold water.

How to treat a Covid-19 patient at home.

During my quarantine period at home, I used to stay in my own room in the first place. And I kept a separate cup and a plate for my use. During the 14 days-time, I rarely used cold water. But I used hot water for drinking. As steaming was prescribed, I did so for three times per day. In Asian countries, people add lemon leaves to the steaming pot. So that, the tangerine quality makes your breathing easy. Sometimes, you will lose appetite. But it is essential to keep healthy, so try to eat well. During this period, try not to have baths, because it worsens the situation, and it can cause even death.

When Should I Get a Test for Covid-19?

Simply, you can do a test when you have enough symptoms mentioned above. But some people without symptoms can also have the virus. That is why you need to follow the health guidelines properly even if you have vaccinated. Most importantly, you need to stay isolated from others until your test results are released. If you attend social gatherings and your test results are positive, things will get worse.

Difference between Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Rapid Antigen Test (RAT): PCR vs RAT

PCR	RAT
More expensive than RAT	RAT is cheaper than PCR
Most common method	Quicker results, but less accurate than PCR
A swab is used to collect samples from the nose and throat.	A swab is used to collect samples from the nose and throat.
Tests detect virus in the sample by amplifying viral genetic material to detectable levels	Test results perform best with more virus circulating in the community and the sample is tested from a mostly infected individual.
This test confirms active infections within few days of exposure.

Difference Between Isolation and Quarantine

Isolation	Quarantine
Used to prevent the spread of Covid-19	Used to prevent the spread of Covid-19
With symptoms, you need to isolate for 10 days and 3 more days without symptoms.	This is staying in the facility/home for a fortnight. (14 days)
Suitable for patients with Covid-19 symptoms/ tested positive.	Suits for anyone who had contact with someone infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus even though he has no symptoms.

The Best Vaccine for Covid-19

With tremendous efforts, scientists over the world found several vaccines with different effective levels.  At present, the most effective method that stands against the virus is Covid-19 vaccine. Accordingly, vaccine comes from 2 doses. By now there are at least 13 different vaccines around the world.

Among them, mostly used and accepted vaccines are

1. The Pfizer/BioNtech Comirnaty vaccine
2. The SII/Covishield and AstraZeneca/AZD1222
3. The Janssen/Ad26.COV 2.S
4. The Moderna COVID-19 (mRNA 1273)
5. The Sinopharm COVID-19

How to overcome Covid-19

Frankly speaking, Covid-19 respiratory disease is something that medical experts have failed to predict. People were amassing highly modernized weapons for a World War-III. But they never expected a virus to turn the globe upside down. Each minute, people die. Each minute, people lose their loved ones. Even then, we have no choice but to wear masks, keep distance, sanitize and vaccine. However, they are not the ideal solutions after all. So dear friends, I am writing this not as a mere writer, but as a person who reached the death due to Covid-19. All what we can do is to follow health guidelines and stay disciplined until the proper answer pops up.

Stay Safe!

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