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  • This is likely one of the words we've heard the most so far in 2020: "Coronavirus".

  • And it is no wonder, as this disease has been at the front of all the news outlets around

  • the world. Thus, it's no surprise for people to ask: Where did the virus originate, and

  • how is it affecting people?

  • The coronavirus is a family of viruses which usually only affects animals, but sometimes

  • can mutate and affect human beings. This is what happened on December 2019 in the market

  • of Wuhan, China, a city with a population of eleven million people. A week later it

  • was confirmed that a new strain of the disease had formed, provisionally named 2019-nCoV.

  • It all started like a normal flu. In fact, the symptoms are very similar to other diseases:

  • runny nose, coughing or a sore throat. It's so similar to a common respiratory disease

  • that without a full analysis it's practically impossible

  • to distinguish it from a common cold.

  • But then the infected victims started to develop fevers and respiratory issues, such as pneumonia.

  • After tracking down the origin, authorities concluded that a new disease was the cause,

  • which they sequenced and published on January 9. Apparently, it is a lot less lethal than

  • previous variants such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

  • Two days later, the first death by the coronavirus was confirmed. Moreover, 41 more people were

  • declared infected with the virus, while contemplating about other 700 possible cases. This confirmed

  • that the disease was easily transmitted from human to human through the air, such as through

  • saliva drops from coughing or sneezing. The infections started to multiply, and the coronavirus

  • started to be treated as an international emergency.

  • A few days passed, and the first infection cases were detected in other countries such

  • as Japan, the United States and France. In fact, it's possible that the virus has already

  • spread to other places because of how easy it can spread among airplane passengers. So

  • should we worry? The answer isof course!

  • At the end of the day this is a disease, but we shouldn't fall into alarmism either.

  • The truth is that the mortality rate of this new virus is of around 3% – not so worrying

  • if we compare it with some strains of the common flu. Moreover, so far most deaths due

  • to the coronavirus have occurred in patients who already had other health problems.

  • Now, something we CAN do is follow some advice by the World Health Organization: Avoid getting

  • too close to other people who we suspect might be infected, cover our nose and mouth when

  • sneezing or coughing and wash our hands frequently.

  • Optionally, we can also wear medical masks when going out.

  • The coronavirus is a real problem, and surely all of us have worried, at least a little

  • bit, when hearing about it on the news. However, we need to remember that all the measures

  • taken so far regarding the virus are all typical, as we are dealing with an unknown disease.

  • Let's trust that our doctors and authorities will be working diligently to keep us safe,

  • and let's help each other by taking all the precautions that are under our control!

This is likely one of the words we've heard the most so far in 2020: "Coronavirus".

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