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he Novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. Continue to cross bordersThe pandemic, one of the most serious health crises in recent years and whose consequences remain unpredictable, has spread to more than 175 countries, affecting more than 700,000 people, including more than 33,000 lives. Spain, The number of positive Covid-19 cases exceeds 85,000, the second highest in Europe after Italy, which has almost reached 100,000. Spain is already the second country The country with the highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world. With 7,340 deaths, it has surpassed China, where the epidemic originated, with 3,313 deaths so far. Italy has tripled its toll, surpassing 10,000.
In Spain, the coronavirus is growing exponentially. In one week, the number of cases went from 2 to 100, in the next four days, from 100 to 1,000, and from 1,000 to 4,000.
Since March 14 last year The Council of Ministers declared a state of alert. All of Spain is officially closed. More than 47 million people are confined to their homes, and can only leave alone to go to work and buy food, medicine or basic items. Land borders have also been closed. closureFrom this Monday, only those who work can go out to work Activities considered necessary.
Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus continues to spread around the world. The country with the most infections is no longer Hubei province in China, where the virus was first detected last December, but the United States, with more than 140,000 confirmed cases. It is also gradually infecting the population of other American countries. Canada is the second country with the most positive cases (6,320), followed by Brazil, Chile and Ecuador.
In Europe, where 380,000 people have been infected, the virus continues to spread inexorably. With nearly 11,000 deaths, Italy has already suffered three times as many deaths as China. But in addition to the Trans-Alpine countries, SARS-CoV-2 is also spreading strongly in other parts of the continent. Together with Italy, only Spain, Germany and France have accumulated more than 230,000 infections.
Here are some certainties and uncertainties about the virus and related diseases:
1. What is a virus? How does it spread?
SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus, a large family of viruses that affect humans and a variety of animals. So far, six strains have been identified that can make people sick: four that cause the common cold, SARS (which also emerged in China in 2002), and MERS (which emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012). The new coronavirus first detected in Wuhan affects the respiratory tract and can cause mild symptoms, such as a dry cough and fever, but can also lead to severe symptoms, such as acute respiratory failure and pneumonia, which can result in death.
It is not possible to precisely determine the mechanism of transmission, although by analogy with other similar infections, the most accepted hypothesis is that human-to-human transmission occurs through contact with secretions produced when a carrier of the virus coughs or sneezes. Scientists believe that it is possible to infect another person during the incubation period, when symptoms have not yet appeared, but this has not yet been confirmed. Regarding transmission between animals and humans, it is not yet possible to determine from which species the virus was transmitted to humans.
One of its characteristics is SARS-CoV-2 It is its high reproductive numbers that have facilitated its expansion around the world.
2. Disease mortality rate
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the death rate from Covid-19 in China is between 2% and 4%, and around 0.7% outside of Asian countries. The highest rate is in the oldest age group. This new virus is more contagious than the flu and potentially more deadly.
Sources: World Health Organization (WHO), National Health Commission of China, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Ministry of Health, Jama Network, University of Seville.
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