Portal:COVID-19

The COVID-19 portal

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transmission and life-cycle of SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19.

Several COVID-19 vaccines have been approved and distributed in various countries, which have initiated mass vaccination campaigns. Other preventive measures include physical or social distancing, quarantining, ventilation of indoor spaces, use of face masks or coverings in public, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. While work is underway to develop drugs that inhibit the virus, the primary treatment is symptomatic. Management involves the treatment of symptoms through supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.

The pandemic caused severe social and economic disruption around the world, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. Widespread supply shortages, including food shortages, were caused by supply chain disruptions and panic buying. Reduced human activity led to an unprecedented decrease in pollution. Educational institutions and public areas were partially or fully closed in many jurisdictions, and events were cancelled or postponed during 2020 and 2021. Many white-collar workers began working from home. Misinformation circulated through social media and mass media, and political tensions intensified. The pandemic raised issues of racial and geographic discrimination, health equity, and the balance between public health imperatives and individual rights. (Full article)

About the virus

SARS-CoV-2 as seen by a cryo-electron tomography scan.

SARS‑CoV‑2 belongs to the broad family of viruses known as coronaviruses. It is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) virus, with a single linear RNA segment. Coronaviruses infect humans, other mammals, including livestock and companion animals, and avian species. Human coronaviruses are capable of causing illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS, fatality rate ~34%). SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh known coronavirus to infect people, after 229E, NL63, OC43, HKU1, MERS-CoV, and the original SARS-CoV.

Like the SARS-related coronavirus implicated in the 2003 SARS outbreak, SARS‑CoV‑2 is a member of the subgenus Sarbecovirus (beta-CoV lineage B). Coronaviruses undergo frequent recombination. The mechanism of recombination in unsegmented RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 is generally by copy-choice replication, in which gene material switches from one RNA template molecule to another during replication. The SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequence is approximately 30,000 bases in length, relatively long for a coronavirus—which in turn carry the largest genomes among all RNA families. Its genome consists nearly entirely of protein-coding sequences, a trait shared with other coronaviruses. (Full article)

Disease progress

As of 28 October 2023, 771,548,954 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in 6,974,460 reported deaths.[1]

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Updated October 28, 2023.

COVID-19 pandemic by location[1]
	Location	Cases	Deaths
	World[lower-alpha 1]	771,548,954	6,974,460
	European Union[lower-alpha 2]	184,262,967	1,245,804
	United States	103,436,829	1,136,920
	China[lower-alpha 3]	99,316,932	121,764
	India	45,001,052	533,291
	France	38,997,490	167,985
	Germany	38,437,756	174,979
	Brazil	37,721,749	704,659
	South Korea	34,571,873	35,934
	Japan	33,803,572	74,694
	Italy	26,202,253	192,210
	United Kingdom	24,789,488	230,669
	Russia	23,098,734	400,195
	Turkey	17,004,677	101,419
	Spain	13,980,340	121,852
	Vietnam	11,624,000	43,206
	Australia	11,623,332	23,289
	Argentina	10,054,576	130,472
	Taiwan	9,970,937	17,672
	Netherlands	8,618,815	22,986
	Mexico	7,692,603	334,727
	Iran	7,619,981	146,480
	Indonesia	6,813,429	161,918
	Poland	6,527,077	119,657
	Colombia	6,382,720	142,942
	Austria	6,081,287	22,534
	Portugal	5,621,015	27,424
	Ukraine	5,520,483	109,918
	Greece	5,405,742	37,572
	Chile	5,288,869	61,609
	Malaysia	5,131,899	37,200
	Israel	4,840,714	12,697
	Belgium	4,817,196	34,339
	Thailand	4,757,919	34,485
	Canada	4,716,205	53,297
	Czech Republic	4,661,103	42,900
	Peru	4,520,727	221,704
	Switzerland	4,417,131	14,073
	Philippines	4,117,183	66,714
	South Africa	4,072,533	102,595
	Romania	3,485,792	68,455
	Denmark	3,417,017	8,824
	Hong Kong	2,876,106	13,466
	Sweden	2,719,400	24,950
	Singapore	2,641,196	1,872
	Serbia	2,563,994	18,057
	Iraq	2,465,545	25,375
	New Zealand	2,393,977	3,393
	Hungary	2,207,993	48,817
	Bangladesh	2,045,892	29,477
	Slovakia	1,867,933	21,167
	Georgia	1,855,289	17,132
	Jordan	1,746,997	14,122
	Republic of Ireland	1,723,096	9,262
	Pakistan	1,580,631	30,656
	Kazakhstan	1,502,857	19,072
	Norway	1,489,459	5,732
	Finland	1,488,381	10,371
	Slovenia	1,345,384	9,448
	Lithuania	1,335,551	9,729
	Bulgaria	1,302,188	38,414
	Morocco	1,277,082	16,297
	Croatia	1,276,001	18,397
	Guatemala	1,271,073	20,236
	Puerto Rico	1,252,713	5,938
	Lebanon	1,239,904	10,947
	Costa Rica	1,238,884	9,428
	Bolivia	1,209,431	22,404
	Tunisia	1,153,361	29,423
	Cuba	1,115,103	8,530
	Ecuador	1,069,139	36,043
	United Arab Emirates	1,067,030	2,349
	Panama	1,047,587	8,654
	Uruguay	1,040,506	7,635
	Mongolia	1,011,170	2,284
	Nepal	1,003,450	12,031
	Belarus	994,037	7,118
	Latvia	976,316	7,384
	Saudi Arabia	841,469	9,646
	Azerbaijan	833,955	10,353
	Paraguay	735,921	19,981
	Palestine	703,228	5,708
	Bahrain	696,614	1,536
	Sri Lanka	672,597	16,882
	Dominican Republic	667,074	4,384
	Kuwait	666,432	2,570
	Cyprus	660,854	1,364
	Myanmar	641,335	19,494
	Moldova	625,712	12,135
	Estonia	602,187	2,902
	Venezuela	552,695	5,856
	Egypt	516,023	24,830
	Qatar	514,524	690
	Libya	507,269	6,437
	Ethiopia	501,060	7,574
	Réunion	494,595	921
	Honduras	474,587	11,127
	Armenia	450,334	8,762
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	403,266	16,362
	Oman	399,449	4,628
	Luxembourg	384,378	1,000
	Zambia	349,287	4,069
	North Macedonia	349,104	9,946
	Kenya	344,070	5,689
	Albania	334,090	3,604
	Botswana	330,321	2,800
	Brunei	312,094	163
	Mauritius	309,983	1,054
	Kosovo	274,279	3,212
	Algeria	271,945	6,881
	Nigeria	267,146	3,155
	Zimbabwe	265,821	5,720
	Montenegro	251,280	2,654
	Mozambique	233,654	2,249
	Martinique	230,354	1,104
	Afghanistan	226,843	7,952
	Laos	218,885	671
	Iceland	209,142	186
	Guadeloupe	203,235	1,021
	El Salvador	201,808	4,230
	Trinidad and Tobago	191,496	4,390
	Maldives	186,694	316
	Uzbekistan	174,123	1,016
	Namibia	172,123	4,100
	Uganda	171,871	3,632
	Ghana	171,653	1,462
	Jamaica	156,433	3,611
	Cambodia	138,941	3,056
	Rwanda	133,194	1,468
	Cameroon	125,090	1,974
	Malta	120,422	882
	Barbados	110,082	620
	Angola	105,976	1,936
	Democratic Republic of the Congo	99,181	1,468
	French Guiana	98,041	413
	Senegal	89,022	1,971
	Malawi	88,986	2,686
	Kyrgyzstan	88,889	1,024
	Ivory Coast	88,338	835
	Suriname	82,588	1,408
	New Caledonia	80,064	314
	French Polynesia	78,649	649
	Eswatini	75,094	1,427
	Guyana	73,388	1,299
	Belize	71,060	688
	Fiji	69,047	885
	Madagascar	68,354	1,425
	Jersey	66,391	161
	Cabo Verde	64,470	416
	Sudan	63,993	5,046
	Mauritania	63,774	997
	Bhutan	62,697	21
	Syria	57,423	3,163
	Burundi	54,366	15
	Guam	52,050	417
	Seychelles	50,937	172
	Gabon	48,992	307
	Andorra	48,015	159
	Papua New Guinea	46,864	670
	Curaçao	45,883	305
	Aruba	44,224	292
	Tanzania	43,078	846
	Mayotte	42,027	187
	Togo	39,524	290
	Guinea	38,563	468
	Bahamas	38,084	844
	Isle of Man	38,008	116
	Lesotho	35,836	709
	Guernsey	35,326	67
	Faroe Islands	34,658	28
	Haiti	34,403	860
	Mali	33,159	743
	Cayman Islands	31,472	37
	Saint Lucia	30,149	410
	Benin	28,036	163
	Somalia	27,334	1,361
	Federated States of Micronesia	26,547	65
	Solomon Islands	25,954	199
	United States Virgin Islands	25,389	132
	Republic of the Congo	25,196	389
	San Marino	24,697	126
	Timor-Leste	23,460	138
	Burkina Faso	22,056	396
	Liechtenstein	21,504	87
	Gibraltar	20,550	113
	Grenada	19,693	238
	Bermuda	18,860	165
	South Sudan	18,368	138
	Tajikistan	17,786	125
	Equatorial Guinea	17,130	183
	Monaco	17,072	67
	Tonga	16,846	12
	Samoa	16,778	31
	Marshall Islands	16,138	17
	Nicaragua	16,053	245
	Dominica	15,798	74
	Djibouti	15,690	189
	Central African Republic	15,367	113
	Northern Mariana Islands	14,306	41
	Gambia	12,626	372
	Collectivity of Saint Martin	12,324	46
	Vanuatu	12,019	14
	Greenland	11,971	21
	Yemen	11,945	2,159
	Caribbean Netherlands	11,922	41
	Sint Maarten	11,051	92
	Eritrea	10,189	103
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	9,644	124
	Guinea-Bissau	9,614	177
	Niger	9,515	315
	Comoros	9,109	160
	Antigua and Barbuda	9,106	146
	American Samoa	8,359	34
	Liberia	7,930	294
	Sierra Leone	7,766	125
	Chad	7,698	194
	British Virgin Islands	7,305	64
	Cook Islands	7,168	2
	Turks and Caicos Islands	6,630	39
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	6,607	46
	Sao Tome and Principe	6,601	80
	Palau	6,243	9
	Saint Barthélemy	5,507	5
	Nauru	5,393	1
	Kiribati	5,085	24
	Anguilla	3,904	12
	Wallis and Futuna	3,550	8
	Macau	3,514	121
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	3,426	2
	Tuvalu	2,943	1
	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha	2,166	—
	Falkland Islands	1,923	—
	Montserrat	1,403	8
	Niue	887	—
	Tokelau	80	0
	Vatican City	26	0
	Pitcairn Islands	4	—
	North Korea	1	6
	Turkmenistan	0	0
Countries which do not report data for a column are not included in that column's world total. Data on member states of the European Union are individually listed, but are also summed here for convenience. They are not double-counted in world totals. Does not include special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau) or Taiwan.

(Full article)

About the symptoms

Symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

The symptoms of COVID-19 are variable depending on the type of variant contracted, ranging from mild symptoms to a potentially fatal illness. Common symptoms include coughing, fever, loss of smell (anosmia) and taste (ageusia), with less common ones including headaches, nasal congestion and runny nose, muscle pain, sore throat, diarrhea, eye irritation, and toes swelling or turning purple, and in moderate to severe cases, breathing difficulties. People with the COVID-19 infection may have different symptoms, and their symptoms may change over time. Three common clusters of symptoms have been identified: one respiratory symptom cluster with cough, sputum, shortness of breath, and fever; a musculoskeletal symptom cluster with muscle and joint pain, headache, and fatigue; and a cluster of digestive symptoms with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. In people without prior ear, nose, or throat disorders, loss of taste combined with loss of smell is associated with COVID-19 and is reported in as many as 88% of symptomatic cases. (Full article)

About the spread

COVID-19 is mainly transmitted when people breathe in air contaminated by droplets/aerosols and small airborne particles containing the virus. Infected people exhale those particles as they breathe, talk, cough, sneeze, or sing. Transmission is more likely the closer people are. However, infection can occur over longer distances, particularly indoors.

Infectious particles range in size from aerosols that remain suspended in the air for long periods of time to larger droplets that remain airborne briefly or fall to the ground. Additionally, COVID-19 research has redefined the traditional understanding of how respiratory viruses are transmitted. The largest droplets of respiratory fluid do not travel far, but can be inhaled or land on mucous membranes on the eyes, nose, or mouth to infect. Aerosols are highest in concentration when people are in close proximity, which leads to easier viral transmission when people are physically close, but airborne transmission can occur at longer distances, mainly in locations that are poorly ventilated; in those conditions small particles can remain suspended in the air for minutes to hours. (Full article)

Containment measures

Goals of mitigation include delaying and reducing peak burden on healthcare (flattening the curve) and lessening overall cases and health impact.

Many countries attempted to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19 by recommending, mandating or prohibiting behaviour changes, while others relied primarily on providing information. Measures ranged from public advisories to stringent lockdowns. Outbreak control strategies are divided into elimination and mitigation. Experts differentiate between" zero-COVID", which is an elimination strategy, and mitigation strategies that attempt to lessen the effects of the virus on society, but which still tolerate some level of transmission within the community. Containment strategies consists of the use of public health measures such as contact tracing, mass testing, border quarantine, lockdowns and mitigation software.These strategies can be pursued sequentially or simultaneously during the acquired immunity phase through natural and vaccine-induced immunity.

(Full article)

Videos

Animation describing the structure of a coronavirus
Video about what SARS-CoV-2 does to the human body
Video about the transmission of coronaviruses

(More videos)

Recent news

12 October 2023 –: International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva confirms that Zambia, the first African nation to default following the COVID-19 pandemic, has agreed to a debt agreement with foreign creditors concerning US$6.3 billion of its debt. (AFP via Business Recorder)
2 October 2023 –: Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing technology that resulted in mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. (BBC News)
27 August 2023 – COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 pandemic in North Korea; The North Korean government announces the lifting of certain pandemic-era travel restrictions, allowing citizens abroad to return to the country provided that they quarantine for one week. (AFP via WION)
23 August 2023 – COVID-19 pandemic in the United States: The U.S. Justice Department announces that they have brought 718 law enforcement actions costing $836 million in COVID-19 fraud during the pandemic. (The Washington Post)

Did you know?

... that Radio Quarantine was founded in India by a group of professors, directors and PhD students in response to social isolation protocols following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic?
... that Potamophylax coronavirus's range has been described as a battlefield between scientists and hydropower plant management?
(More did you know facts)

Data maps

Cases and deaths

Total confirmed cases by reporting area
  3,000 + per 100,000 inhabitants

  1,000–3,00 per 100,000 inhabitants

  300–1,000 per 100,000 inhabitants

  100–300 per 100,000 inhabitants

  30–100 per 100,000 inhabitants

  0–30 per 100,000 inhabitants

  None or no data
Total confirmed deaths by country
  100+ per 100,000 inhabitants

  18–100 per 100,000 inhabitants

  3.3–18 per 100,000 inhabitants

  0.6–3.3 per 100,000 inhabitants

  0.1–0.6 per 100,000 inhabitants

  <0.1 per 100,000 inhabitants

  None or no data

(More statistics)

Economic impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching economic consequences including the COVID-19 recession, the second largest global recession in recent history, decreased business in the services sector during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the 2020 stock market crash, which included the largest single-week stock market decline since the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis, the 2021–2022 inflation surge, shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic including the 2020–present global chip shortage, panic buying, and price gouging. It led to governments providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus. The pandemic was also a factor in the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and 2022 food crises.

Many fashion, sport, and technology events have been canceled or have changed to be online. While the monetary impact on the travel and trade industry is yet to be estimated, it is likely to be in the billions and increasing. (Full article)

Workplace

Hazard controls for COVID-19 in workplaces are the application of occupational safety and health methodologies for hazard controls to the prevention of COVID-19. Vaccination is the most effective way to protect against severe illness or death from COVID-19. Multiple layers of controls are recommended, including measures such as remote work and flextime, increased ventilation, personal protective equipment (PPE) and face coverings, social distancing, and enhanced cleaning programs. (Full article)

Misinformation

False information, including intentional disinformation and conspiracy theories, about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. False information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. Many countries have passed laws against "fake news", and thousands of people have been arrested for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The spread of COVID-19 misinformation by governments has also been significant. (Full article)

Testing

COVID-19 testing involves analyzing samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2. The two main types of tests detect either the presence of the virus or antibodies produced in response to infection. Molecular tests for viral presence through its molecular components are used to diagnose individual cases and to allow public health authorities to trace and contain outbreaks. Antibody tests (serology immunoassays) instead show whether someone once had the disease. They are less useful for diagnosing current infections because antibodies may not develop for weeks after infection. It is used to assess disease prevalence, which aids the estimation of the infection fatality rate. (Full article)

Vaccine research

A COVID‑19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19).

The COVID‑19 vaccines are widely credited for their role in reducing the spread of COVID‑19 and reducing the severity and death caused by COVID‑19. According to a June 2022 study, COVID‑19 vaccines prevented an additional 14.4 to 19.8 million deaths in 185 countries and territories from 8 December 2020 to 8 December 2021. Many countries implemented phased distribution plans that prioritized those at highest risk of complications, such as the elderly, and those at high risk of exposure and transmission, such as healthcare workers. (Full article)

Drug research

COVID-19 drug development is the research process to develop preventative therapeutic prescription drugs that would alleviate the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). From early 2020 through 2021, several hundred drug companies, biotechnology firms, university research groups, and health organizations were developing therapeutic candidates for COVID-19 disease in various stages of preclinical or clinical research (506 total candidates in April 2021), with 419 potential COVID-19 drugs in clinical trials, as of April 2021. (Full article)

Images

Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 (centre, yellow)
This image reveals ultra-structural morphology exhibited by the virus
SARS-CoV-2 structure

(More images)

Topics

Get involved!

Get involved by joining WikiProject COVID-19. We discuss collaborations and all manner of issues on our talk page. As of 28 October 2023, there are 2,413 articles within the project's scope. A full list is available here.

Related portals

References

Ritchie, Hannah; Mathieu, Edouard; Rodés-Guirao, Lucas; Appel, Cameron; Giattino, Charlie; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban; Hasell, Joe; Macdonald, Bobbie; Beltekian, Diana; Dattani, Saloni; Roser, Max (2020–2022). "Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2023-10-28.

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[2] Countries which do not report data for a column are not included in that column's world total.

[3] Data on member states of the European Union are individually listed, but are also summed here for convenience. They are not double-counted in world totals.

[4] Does not include special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau) or Taiwan.

[Template:COVID-19_data-1] Ritchie, Hannah; Mathieu, Edouard; Rodés-Guirao, Lucas; Appel, Cameron; Giattino, Charlie; Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban; Hasell, Joe; Macdonald, Bobbie; Beltekian, Diana; Dattani, Saloni; Roser, Max (2020–2022). "Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Our World in Data. Retrieved 2023-10-28.