By Muhammad Wali
Coronavirus is not the name of a particular virus but a family of viruses that keep striking off and on.
Previously, the world has seen an attack of SARS and MERS which were viruses from the same family.
The problem with this family group is that we are not aware of what viruses it contains and we mostly get to know about them when one of them attacks.
The other problem is that we cannot be prepared for a virus that we don’t know anything about.
The Beginning:
The reported start of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 was earlier this year in January and its origin was Wuhan, China.
Like other viruses, this virus needed a host’s body to be active and once active, IT WAS CONTAGIOUS!
The virus spread in such a short timespan that the world had no time to figure out how to defend against it.
Wuhan went under complete lockdown but by then, THE VIRUS HAD SPREAD!
After China, countries like Iran and Italy were also badly hit by the virus before WHO declared it a GLOBAL PANDEMIC.
The Present:
Today, almost every country in the world is suffering from COVID-19 and recording exponential increase in the cases despite a worldwide lockdown.
Other than the lockdown, there are only a few preventive measures against the virus, that is, maintaining social distance, washing hands, avoiding touching face and coughing in the elbow. Yes, that simple it is to save the world!
There are other options as well such as making a vaccine but it seems like a farfetched idea yet since apparently it requires to make a virus in the laboratory before you can make a vaccine against it and can also require some technical knowledge but, you can help in this regard as well without having a prior medical knowledge or a degree.
How? Here you go..
All that the medical world knows about the virus are its few symptoms that are not that hard to memorize.
The symptoms include sore throat, a cough, a fever and shortness of breath with the feeling of being unwell.
Taking preventive measures and examining for the symptoms is more or less all the medical knowledge we have at the moment.
Obviously treating the symptoms and providing the medical care is also a part of the game but we have another league of superheroes for that, that is, the doctors and the paramedics.
That league is saturated and requires a specific kind of knowledge from you to be in it but you can help them too.. By staying at home and out of the hospital.
The Future:
The mankind is hopeful that a vaccine will be made for the coronavirus in the near future. The best in the business are racing for it and five of them have even started the clinical trials of their potential vaccines.
It still cannot be said with surety that when will we have a vaccine. Will we have it before the human race becomes extinct?
YES! IF you take preventive measures, self-quarantine in case of symptoms, seek medical help if needed, slow the spread of virus, save hospitals from overburdening and buy us enough time to make the vaccine, YOU WILL BE THE SUPERHERO WHO SAVED THE WORLD!
