2. What is Coronavirus & COVID-19
• Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some
cause illness in humans, and others cause illness
in animals, such as bats, camels, and civets.
• Human coronaviruses cause mild illness, such as
the common cold
• Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a
viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus,
called SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV)
• Previous Coronaviruses have included SARS-
CoV and MERS-CoV
• Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2) is a new strain of coronavirus that
has not been previously identified in humans.
3. Coronavirus Structure
• Medium-sized virus size, but largest
mRNA genome
• Enveloped +ve stranded RNA
• mRNA encased in nucleocapsid
• Lipid Bilayer – Soap works to disrupt this!
Corona = Crowns for Spikes
• Glycoprotein Spike (S) Peptomer
• Spikes allow it to attach to human cell
receptors in upper or lower airway
4. What are the symptoms?
Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath
5. Risk Factors and Severity
People with COVID-19 can have no symptoms or
develop mild, severe, or fatal illness
Kids may have less severe disease (2% of
confirmed cases in China occurred among those
<20 years old)
Current case fatality rate ~2% among those with
laboratory-confirmed COVID-19
Risk factors for severe illness may include:
oOlder age
oUnderlying chronic medical conditions
6. How does the virus spread?
Primarily spreads person-to-person via respiratory
droplets from coughs or sneezes (like the flu)
Possibly spread by touching an object or surface with
the virus on it, then touching mouth, nose, or eyes
Possibly spread through stool with the virus in it
It takes approximately 2 to 14 days (median ~5 days)
for an infected person to show symptoms
People likely most infectious while they are most
symptomatic (e.g., coughing and sneezing)
oSpread from people without symptoms appears
possible
7. Treatment and Vaccine
Treatment
oNo specific treatment currently available
oSupportive management of complications,
including advanced organ support if indicated
oAnti-viral medications under investigation
Vaccines are under development
oPhase 1 trials in people may occur within 2
months
8. Six Human Rights-
Protecting people live is the priority ; protecting
livelihoods help us do it.
The virus does not discriminate but its impacts
do.
Involve everyone in your response.
The threat is the virus not people.
No country can beat this alone .
When we recover , we must be better than we
were before.
9. The NCD and COVID-19 pandemics underscore
the importance of government attention to piblic
health.
It also explained that the connection between public
health and the right to health is nit straightforward
one, given that public health measures may be
tension with other rights.
Finally, the authors suggest the states obligations
under the right to health should be interpreted with
respect for states duties to the public health,
drawing on expert guidance from the WHO and
other agencies.
