With the pandemic of Corona, the word corona has also got highly popular. This virus is also named as COVID 19 and a novel virus. Here one needs to note that the corona is a series where there are different types of viruses present as per the leading microbiologists.
There are exciting facts behind calling this virus with such names. The name corona is given to it as it has got the shape like a corona. COVID 19 is also another yet easy to understand the name. It is often called a novel virus as this type of virus is still new to the medical world. In simple terms, not much is known about the nature of the virus and its behavior in the long run.
Contents
Why Is COVID-19 Called A Novel Virus?
The medical field may take another two years to understand this virus fully and develop a vaccine or drug to prevent its spread among the community. From the information available so far, it is believed that this type of virus originated from bats even though they do not spread them among humans. The manner in which the virus entered into humans in the first stage is not yet determined. But it has been spreading from one person to another across the world.
Whenever doctors do not have a full understanding of any virus, it is often called a novel virus. The complete behavior of this virus is not yet known as it has been just over a few months since this first began in Wuhan province of China. It is known to attack the respiratory system. It can spread when the infected person sneezes or coughs. It can also spread through the droplets that come out while breathing.
Whenever an infected person releases droplets from the mouth or nose, the virus can get onto the surface and remain active for many hours. When another person gets in contact with such a surface, the virus can infect that person. In this manner, it has spread to millions of people across the world.
The COVID-19 disease is different from other diseases caused by coronavirus and other viruses in the sense that not much is known about this disease. The virus has mutated into different strands that behave differently in different conditions.
Throughout the world, all people are not affected by the same type of virus strand even though the original virus remains the same. In this regard, scientists are still studying the behavior of different strands and trying to find a suitable remedy for this problem.
Why Did WHO Give The Name COVID-19?
The World Health Organisation needs to name every disease and virus properly so that one virus name does not get confused with another. In this regard, the coronavirus is given the official name COVID-19, which is the short form of Corona Virus Disease of 2019. It belongs to the SARS family of viruses that causes severe respiratory problems.
Even though this coronavirus has become very popular in recent days, it is not the first of its kind. Even earlier viruses belonging to the SARS family were named coronavirus. However, they were not so dangerous, and hence, they did not get popular. In the year 2012, the MERS-COV coronavirus started in Saudi Arabia. Earlier in 2005, the Human Coronavirus was found in the Hong Kong region. However, it was not so common, and it was considered a rare disease.
Origin Of COVID-19
The virus first emerged in Wuhan city of China. It is believed that the market that sells animal meat is the origin spot for this virus even though there are no confirmed reports about this source. However, it is completely clear that it originated in China and began spreading from this region to different parts of the world. As of now, nearly 200 countries around the globe have been affected by this disease, and several lakhs of people have lost their lives to this dreaded disease.
As of now, there is no vaccine available to treat coronavirus. The entire world is hoping for a quick solution to end this pandemic. Even though there is positive news coming about the vaccine from different parts of the world, there are no concrete results about the vaccine being available within the next few months. In the extreme situation, scientists have warned that there may be no vaccine available for the next few years for this coronavirus.
In that situation, mankind may have to live with this virus and face all the difficulties until the vaccine becomes available for mass production. One possible solution that may emerge in the event of non-availability of vaccines is that people may develop herd immunity, and this can stop the dreaded effect of this virus.