COVID-19 OVERVIEW

Sir,

People with COVID-19 are infectious even before they develop symptoms. Initial COVID-19 symptoms include sore throat, headache, muscle pains, a dry cough and difficulty breathing. High fever often develops, sometimes initially, but often only after a few days. Later, influenza-like symptoms and much difficulty breathing sometimes leads to critical symptoms developing. 

Those include pneumonia and ultimately respiratory, heart and kidney failure. In some cases, the first sign of infection is diarrhea. 

Distributed

According to the Chinese CDC, on February 17, 2020, cases of COVID-19 disease were distributed as follows: 80.9 per cent  of cases had mild symptoms –like the common cold or even less severe,13.8 per cent of cases have severe symptoms –bedridden, as with influenza, 4.7 per cent of cases have critical symptoms and need hospitalisation and sometimes ventilation. Three-quarters of deaths occur in people who are seventy years old or older–especially those with underlying conditions such as cardiovascular or kidney disease, cancer, respiratory problems, severe diabetes, etc. Yet only 14.8 per cent  of elderly patients die, mostly of respiratory or organ failure. Age/Mortality rates are as follows: 80’s and up-14.8 per cent;70’s-8.0 per cent, 60’s-3.6 per cent , 50s-1.3 per cent; 40’s-0.4 per cent; 10-39 years old - 0.2 per cent. In Italy, 99 per cent  of people who died also suffered from other illnesses –especially high blood pressure.

People over age sixty-five are twenty times more likely to die than people younger than sixty-five. This is primarily because the immune system declines in people over the age of 65 and they have more underlying conditions. However, people can boost their immune system.  Only 1.5 per cent of cases are in children 15 years or younger, although they might be carriers. Infants age 0-3 can become seriously ill. Pregnant women may be at extremely high risk of death. COVID-19 will probably cause birth defects or life-long diseases in children born to infected mothers. It is imperative to postpone pregnancy during this epidemic. Face masks offer some protection against the virus. Maximising your immune defences is recommended. 

If you are sick or coughing, wear a face mask! If sick, you must stay home, self-isolate.70 per cent of all people probably may get Covid-19 in the next two years. About 97 per cent of those who get infected will survive. The mortality rate in most developed countries should be between one per cent and three per cent of those infected. In countries with less developed healthcare infrastructure, it may be three per cent to five per cent. These estimates may be low.

Information provided by the Selenium Education and Research Centre, Johannesburg

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