Why COVID 19 is so dangerous despite the low mortality rate?

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID 19) is spreading so fast that the World Health Organization (WHO) has upgraded it outbreak status from epidemic to pandemic. “We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus (CoV). This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom. The disease has now spread in over 114 countries across all the continents.

Since time immemorial, humans have been fighting with the viruses. There exist several viruses on the earth which are many times more fatal than COVID 19. According to the live monitoring data, out of 72,946 infected people, 68,305 were recovered while 4,641 have died. If we go by the numbers only 6.36 per cent of the infected people died due to COVID 19. The health experts agree that more people could have been saved if appropriate supporting health facilities were provided. Thus the rate of recovery of the patients having symptoms of the patients is very high in comparison to HIV, Rabies, and other deadly virus diseases.  

The mortality rate of COVID 19 is about 2.3 per cent. There have been instances where patients recovered without any medication and did not even show the symptoms. The viruses with very high mortality rates are – Marburg (80 per cent), Ebola (50-71 per cent), Rabbies (100 per cent), HIV (almost 100 per cent at the time of outbreak), smallpox (about 30 per cent), Dengue (20 per cent), MERS CoV (30-40 per cent), and SARS-CoV (9.2 per cent). Thus despite the very low rate of mortality, the Novel Coronavirus (CoV) or COVID 19 has become pandemic. Here are some characteristics of the COVID 19 which make it very dangerous.

Highly Contagious

The scariest thing about the virus is its highly contagious nature. In less than 40 days, the virus spread from a few countries to 116 countries of the world across the continents. The WHO declared Novel Coronavirus (named COVID 19 on February 11), a public health emergency of international concern (epidemic) on January 29 and upgraded to pandemic (health emergency of global concern) on March 11. It's highly contagious nature is a major cause of concern which helps the spread of the virus through multiple modes: 

1. Human to human without touch: As the virus is present in the nasal discharges of the infected persons it comes out through sneezing and coughing along with water droplets. These water droplets are spread in around one-meter range. This range may increase in the direction of the wind. Therefore, people exposed to nasal water droplets present in the sneeze of the patients have very high chances of getting infected. Therefore, all the modes of transportation and public gathering have become vulnerable.
2. Human to human with touch: It’s a human habit to touch his/her nose, eyes and other parts of the body. Thus the infected person, even if not sneezing or coughing at the time of interaction, s/he has very high chances of carrying the live viruses on his hands, face, clothes and other body parts. S/he transfers the virus to healthy persons particularly friends and relatives through the touch of various kinds and also to fellow passengers while using public transport. 
3. Human to the surface to human: This is the scariest way of transmission of COVID 19. All the objects coming in close contact of infected person carry millions of live viruses that are capable of infecting healthy persons. If the virus manages to touch any part of your body or cloth, it may reach inside through your hands if you touch that part and then your eyes or nose.

Long-life on surface

According to the WHO, the COVID-19 may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. This may vary under different conditions (e.g. type of surface, temperature or humidity of the environment). The capacity of the virus to survive for so long outside the body makes it highly contagious and helps to spread on longer distances through transportation of the infected person/s. 

This is the major reason that civil aviation is hardly hit by COVID 19. The atmosphere inside the planes is highly favourable for the virus. Besides, national and international trade is also hit hard due to Novel Coronavirus. The virus has forced several countries to stop transport services and live in isolation. However, the likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low, said the WHO. But if transported in favourable conditions for shorter durations, their courier packets may also be the carrier of the virus.  

Survives in all weather conditions

Initially, it was assumed that like other viruses, the prevalence of COVID 19 will reduce in the summers. The idea was based on the observation that the place of origin of the virus – Wuhan city of China – was in under mild/ winter weather conditions. However, the virus has now spread to 126 countries spread across all the continents. Presently, there are 126,660 confirmed cases of COVID 19. A large number of deaths are being reported from outside China such as Italy (827), Iran (354), USA (30), France (48), Japan (16) and UK (8). The number of confirmed cases in Italy have reached 12, 442 and 9,000 in Iran.

The WHO has now declared that the COVID 19 can survive in all the weather conditions from freezing winter to scorching summer. The virus survives up to 70 degrees Celsius temperature while humans start collapsing above 54-55 degree Celsius. Besides, the human body temperature remains around 36.5 degrees Celsius to 37 degrees Celsius, regardless of the external temperature or weather. The rise of a few degrees in the temperature of the human body causes severe fever. Thus the human body will always remain a safe place for the virus. Besides, the cold water and hot water bath will also not work against the infection.

Longer Incubation Period

The longer incubation period means the person will carry and spread the virus for a longer duration before showing the symptoms of the disease. According to WHO, the “incubation period” means the time between catching the virus and beginning to have symptoms of the disease. Most estimates of the incubation period for COVID-19 range from 1-14 days, most commonly around five days. This makes it difficult to trace the actual number of infections in the population and increases the efficiency of infection. 

No specific medicine

According to WHO, it will take at least a year to develop a medicine for the COVID 19. Therefore, there is no possibility of any medicine or vaccine in 2020. The only cure is supportive treatment but it works.  

Hygiene is important  

The only way to save yourself is to kill the virus as soon as it reaches on your body surface so that it could not reach inside your body. COVID 19 could be killed by washing the hands with soap or using alcohol-based disinfectants, with over 60 per cent alcohol concentration, if handwashing facility is not available. The most effective ways to protect yourself and others against COVID-19 are - frequently clean your hands, cover your cough with the bend of elbow or tissue, and maintain a distance of at least 1 meter (3 feet) from people who are coughing or sneezing. “If you think a surface may be infected, clean it with simple disinfectant to kill the virus and protect yourself and others. Clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Avoid touching your eyes, mouth, or nose,” added the advisory.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)