The first human cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel

coronavirus causing COVID-19, subsequently

named SARS-CoV-2 were first reported by officials in Wuhan City,

China, in December 2019. Retrospective

investigations by Chinese authorities have identified human cases with

onset of symptoms in early December 2019.

While some of the earliest known cases had a link to a wholesale food
market in Wuhan, some did not. Many of the

initial patients were either stall owners, market employees, or regular

visitors to this market. Environmental samples

taken from this market in December 2019 tested positive for SARS-CoV-
2, further suggesting that the market in

Wuhan City was the source of this outbreak or played a role in the
initial amplification of the outbreak. The market

was closed on 1 January 2020.

Coronaviruses are common in certain species of animals, such as cattle

and camels. Although the transmission of coronaviruses from animals
to humans is rareTrusted Source, this new strain likely came from bats,
though one study suggests pangolins may be the origin.

However, it remains unclear exactly how the virus first spread to

humans.
Some reports trace the earliest cases back to a seafood and animal
market in Wuhan. It may have been from here that SARS-CoV-2 started
to spread to humans.

Important Ways to Slow the Spread :

• Wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth to help protect
yourself and others.

• Stay 6 feet apart from others who don't live with you.

• Get a COVID-19 vaccine when it is available to you.

• Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.

• Wash your hadns often with soap and water.Use hand sanitizer if
soap and water aren't available.

There’s currently no cure for an infection caused by the 2019

coronavirus. However, many treatments and vaccines are currently
under study.

Types of Variants

Scientists monitor all variants but may classify certain ones as Variants
Being Monitored, Variants of Concern, Variants of Interest or Variants
of High Consequence. Some variants seem to spread more easily and
quickly than other variants, which may lead to more cases of COVID-19.
An increase in the number of cases will put more strain on healthcare
resources, lead to more hospitalizations, and potentially more deaths.
These classifications are based on how easily the variant spreads, how
severe the symptoms are, how the variant responds to treatments, or
how well vaccines protect against the variant.

Continue to follow public health guidelines for COVID-19.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak began, people across the country have
taken steps to stay safe. And until the virus is under control and there’s
a vaccine to protect everyone from getting it, it’s important to keep
taking those precautions.

Remember that the virus spreads mainly from person to person,

especially if you’re within six feet of one another. Also remember that
you can have — and spread — the virus even if you don’t have
symptoms.

So keep following the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) and other public health experts for staying safe:

• Wear a face mask in public settings even if you don’t feel sick.

• Stay about six feet away from others in public settings.

• Limit close contact with others in your home who are sick.

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

• Use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol if soap and water aren’t
available.

• Don’t touch your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Cough or sneeze into a tissue or the inside of your elbow.

• Clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces daily, like faucets and
phones.

We know that taking these steps isn’t always easy. But they couldn’t be
more important. They help protect you, family, friends and neighbors
from getting the virus.

The textbook version of contact-tracing starts with someone testing

positive for COVID-19 and isolating themselves. A contact-tracer
interviews this person to find out who they might have exposed while
infected, usually from 48 hours before the positive test, or before
symptoms appeared (if there were any). Close contacts — those who’ve
spent more than 15 minutes close to the infected person — are of
special interest, but anyone who shared public transport or an office
space might qualify. Tracers then call or visit those contacts to tell them
they need to quarantine, so that they don’t pass the virus on to more
people. The chain of transmission is broken.

In reality, failures occur at every stage of this test–trace–isolate

sequence. People get COVID-19 and don’t know it, or delay getting
tested. Positive results can take days to be confirmed. Not everyone
who tests positive isolates when requested; one survey in May found
that in the United Kingdom, 61% of people who were self-isolating said
they’d left their house in the past day. People can’t always be reached
for an interview or don’t provide details of their close contacts. And not
all contacts are reached, or are willing to comply with quarantine
orders.

Because of this series of problems, researchers estimate that in England

this year, tracers typically reached less than half of the close contacts of
people who’d had a positive COVID-19 test. There are no data on how
many of these contacts actually quarantined in turn.

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, WHO has worked with
countries and areas in the Western Pacific Region on public health
measures to slow or stop the spread of the virus.

Safe and effective vaccines are an important tool, in combination with

other measures, to protect people against COVID-19, save lives and
reduce widescale social disruption.

Countries and areas in the Western Pacific Region have already

completed regulatory approval and started introducing one or more
COVID-19 vaccines.

Through the COVAX Global Vaccine Facility and other mechanisms,

WHO and partners are working with governments to facilitate equitable
access to and distribution of an initial allocation of vaccine as quickly as
possible.

WHO recommends that initial vaccination should prioritize groups at

highest risk of exposure to infection in each country, including health
workers, older persons and those with other health issues. Once
COVID-19 vaccines become more available, countries can expand to
vaccinate other priority groups and the general population.
It is hard to overstate the massive impact of the Coronavirus
pandemic.Everyone around the world has been profoundly
affected.Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives,and
countless more have been left with life-long,debilitating Physical and
psychological consequences.This instinct is understanble,but it is also
profoundly short-sighted.To me COVID-19 is a severe disease that can
lose the civilian's lives.But that doesn't mean that there's no cure for
it.Scientist all over the world have been testing to find the solution that
can make the disease disappear or gone We can also be useful by
following the health protocols given by the DOH.When doing this
protocols not only civilian's can find it beneficial but also for scientist
because by following the protocols it can prevent us by getting infected
by the virus.So,we should always wear mask when going out it would
be best if you stay at home,eat healthy foods everyday,always wash
your hands,avoid gatherings and maintining out community clean as
always.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 94.(2020,April

23).World Health Organization.Retrived from
https://www.who.int/publications-detail/infection-prevention-and-
control-during-health-care-when-novel-coronavirus-(ncov)-infection-is-
suspected-20200125
Kandola,A.(2020,30 June).Coronavirus cause: Origin and how it
spreads.MedicalNewsToday.Retrived from
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/coronavirus-
causes#outlook

Prevention, Symptoms, Treatment and Transmission.Missouri

Department of Health & Senior Services.Retrived from
https://health.mo.gov/living/healthcondiseases/communicable/novel-
coronavirus/prevention.php

COVID-19,About Variants.(2021,Nov.1).Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC). Retrieved from
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant.html

Stay focused on staying safe.(2020, August 19).Monarch Health Care®.

Retrieved from
https://www.monarchhealthcare.com/about/news/covid-pubhealth-
guidelines.html

Lewis,D.(2020).Why many countries failed at COVID contact-tracimg—

byt some got it right.Nature.Retrieved from
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03518-4