Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that can spread from person to person.1
On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organisation was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan City, China. A novel coronavirus was identified as the cause by Chinese authorities on 7 January 2020 and was temporarily named “2019-nCoV”.2
The first case identified in Australia was confirmed on 25 January 2020 by Victoria Health Authorities. The patient, a man from Wuhan, flew to Melbourne from Guandong on 19 January.3
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. The new virus was subsequently named the “COVID-19 virus”.2
Some people infected with COVID-19 may experience mild symptoms and recover easily, and others may become very ill and need urgent medical care. COVID-19 can cause mild symptoms but for some people, it can be more severe and can lead to pneumonia or breathing difficulties and can even be fatal.2 Older people and those with underlying medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. Anyone can get sick with COVID-19 and become seriously ill or die at any age.4
Symptoms can include:
- fever (a temperature of 37.5˚C or higher) or chills
- cough
- loss of taste or smell
- sore throat
- tiredness (fatigue)
- runny or blocked nose
- shortness of breath (difficulty breathing)
- nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea
- headache
- muscle or joint pain
- loss of appetite
COVID-19 is mostly likely spread through:
- direct close contact with a person while they are infectious (usually face to face contact for at least 15 minutes; or being in the same closed space for at least 2 hours)
- contact with droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze.
COVID-19 may also spread through touching objects or surfaces like doorknobs or tables, mobile phones, stair rails, elevator buttons that have droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person, and then touching your mouth, nose, eyes or face.1
MORE INFORMATION
- The New England Journal of Medicine, COVID-19 – Navigating the Uncharted,
- Cambridge University Press, Why does the spread of COVID-19 vary greatly in different countries? Revealing the efficacy of face masks in epidemic prevention?,
- Frontiers in Public Health, Modeling the Onset of Symptoms of COVID-19,
