Information about the coronavirus

What you should know about the coronavirus

Information for people returning from north Italy, China, South Korea, Iran, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore or Taiwan

If you have visited north Italy, China, South Korea, Iran, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore or Taiwan in the last 14 days and you have noticed symptoms such as fever, cough, dyspnoea and breathing problems,

or

  • immediately seek medical help at an infection or observation ward, where the personnel will decide on a medical procedure to follow.

What is a coronavirus?

The novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 causes a disease called COVID-19. The most common symptoms are fever, cough, dyspnoea, muscle pain and fatigue.

How often do the symptoms occur?

Severe illness is reported in 15–20% of people on average. Death is reported in 2–3% of patients. These numbers are probably inflated, as many cases where people developed mild illness were not confirmed with laboratory tests.

Who is at the highest risk?

The risk of developing severe illness and death is the highest in the case of the elderly, people with weakened immune systems and with pre-existing medical conditions, in particular chronic diseases.

How to protect yourself against the coronavirus?

The virus spreads through respiratory droplets. Currently, there is no vaccine for the novel coronavirus. You may use other methods to prevent infection, listed below. These methods are also used to prevent other diseases spreading through respiratory droplets, such as seasonal influenza (which peaks between January and March every year).

Where have cases of the coronavirus been reported by now?

The largest number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infections was reported in China (99%), mainly in Hubei Province. The virus then spread to other countries in Asia, Europe, Oceania and North America, where more people were infected (e.g. in Germany, France and Great Britain).

 

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Aktualizacja strony 12 marca 2020, 8:36