scholarly journals Current Status of COVID-19 Diagnostics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surabhi Dixit ◽  
Monal Sharma

In December 2019, an unexpected outbreak was caused by novel corona virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The lung disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 was given the name of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO) on February 11, 2020. Since its origin in the Hubei province of Wuhan city in China, now it has spread to 218 countries worldwide. Panic situation created by COVID-19 has compelled researchers and doctors to work collaboratively. To combat with the disease, every control measures are under consideration from drug discovery to vaccine development. In the management of disease, rapid diagnosis is equally important as development of vaccine and drug. At present, various diagnostic kits are available for COVID-19. With the disease progression, global demand for diagnostics is raising. So, this chapter will include the updates on efficient diagnostic assays and future of diagnostic.

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Ling ◽  
Xianjie Wen

Abstract The outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)), declared as a ‘global pandemic’ by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The outbreak in multiple locations shows a trend of accelerating spread around the world. China has taken a series of powerful measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to actively finding effective treatment drugs and developing vaccines, it is more important to identify the source of infection at the community level as soon as possible to block the transmission path of the virus to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The implementation of grid management in the community and the adoption of precise management and control measures to reduce unnecessary personnel movement can effectively reduce the risk of pandemic spread. This paper mainly describes that the grid management mode can promote the refinement and comprehensiveness of community management. As a management system with potential to improve the governance ability of community affairs, it may be helpful to strengthen the prevention and control of the epidemic in the community.


Author(s):  
Manca Alič ◽  
Andrej Ovca

Abstract The year 2020 has been marked by the novel coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on the 11th of March 2020 due to the spread of this very contagious virus throughout the world. Since the outbreak, we have gained many insights about the virus, its presence and persistence in the environment and its possible and most common transmission routes. Such knowledge about the virus is invaluable for establishing effective preventive and control measures (also referred to as Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs)) that have become a key to tackling this pandemic in the absence of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. In this review, we discuss five main groups of NPIs: 1) ventilation, 2) cleaning and disinfection, 3) hand hygiene, 4) physical distancing, and 5) protective masks. We explore their shortcomings and potential negative consequences that might occur as unwanted side effects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 481-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Meng ◽  
F. Hua ◽  
Z. Bian

The epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), originating in Wuhan, China, has become a major public health challenge for not only China but also countries around the world. The World Health Organization announced that the outbreaks of the novel coronavirus have constituted a public health emergency of international concern. As of February 26, 2020, COVID-19 has been recognized in 34 countries, with a total of 80,239 laboratory-confirmed cases and 2,700 deaths. Infection control measures are necessary to prevent the virus from further spreading and to help control the epidemic situation. Due to the characteristics of dental settings, the risk of cross infection can be high between patients and dental practitioners. For dental practices and hospitals in areas that are (potentially) affected with COVID-19, strict and effective infection control protocols are urgently needed. This article, based on our experience and relevant guidelines and research, introduces essential knowledge about COVID-19 and nosocomial infection in dental settings and provides recommended management protocols for dental practitioners and students in (potentially) affected areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 01-02
Author(s):  
Khadiga Ismail

COVID-19 has high transmissibility and infectivity among human. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) in an effort to slow down the global spread of the virus declared the outbreak, “A global public health emergency of international concern". The skin manifestations of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 were not recognized at the early stages of the pandemic but have received much recent attention in scientific journals. Reported manifestations range from pseudo-chilblains to a morbilliform (measles-like) exanthem, urticaria, vesicular eruptions, a dengue-like petechial rash and ovate scaling macules, and plaques mimicking pityriasis rosea.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuanzhen Cen ◽  
Dong Sun ◽  
Ming Rong ◽  
Gusztáv Fekete ◽  
Julien S. Baker ◽  
...  

Recently, an unprecedented coronavirus pandemic has emerged and has spread around the world. The novel coronavirus termed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization has posed a huge threat to human safety and social development. This mini review aimed to summarize the online education mode and plans for schools to resume full-time campus study in China during COVID-19. Chinese schools have made significant contributions to the prevention and control of the transmission of COVID-19 by adopting online learning from home. However, normal opening and classroom teaching have been affected. For education systems at all levels, online education may be an effective way to make up for the lack of classroom teaching during the epidemic. To protect staff and students from COVID-19, the timing of students returning to full-time campus study needs to be considered carefully. Reviewing and summarizing of the Chinese education system's response to the virus would be of great value not only in developing educational policy but also in guiding other countries to formulate educational countermeasures.


Author(s):  
Renée Belliveau

After the World Health Organization declared the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) a global pandemic in March 2020, they cautioned of another outbreak: an “infodemic.” This study examines how online search engines are influencing the global spread of immunization information about COVID-19. It aims to address the various ways in which search technology is shaping users’ perceptions of the pandemic and to measure the credibility of the sources they provide.


2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-177
Author(s):  
Abraham Cyril Issac

Abstract The world is battling out the pandemic of Covid-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) is jointly acting upon the same daily, which is evident from the ‘situation reports.’ The pandemic, which saw its origin in Wuhan, has spread across the world within a short span of under two months. While the pandemic has effectively instilled a situation of cordon sanitaire across the globe, the virus seems to show no respite. This study collates different sources and establishes the human tendency of knowledge hiding as the prime reason for the spread of such colossal magnitudes. The study underlines the notion by examining some of the critical cases and situations that have unfolded in the very recent past.


Author(s):  
Nur Hidayah Che Ahmat ◽  
Syafiqah Rahamat ◽  
Susan Wohlsdorf Arendt

The novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) first appeared in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province China before emerging in neighbouring countries in early 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic when the spreading of the virus started accelerating in many parts of the world and killing thousands of people. As of 22nd May 2021, there were more than 166 million confirmed cases with more than 147 million recovered and nearly 3.5 million deaths (Worldometers, n.d.). According to the WHO (2020) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020), the virus easily spreads through coughing and sneezing. Therefore, many countries implemented social distancing between individuals and various other restriction orders or recommendations (e.g., stay-at-home policies, closure of non-essential businesses) to help curb virus spread. How governments in each country reacted to control the spread of the virus appeared crucial to mitigate public health and economic impacts. Keywords: Foodservice, Hospitality, Hotel, Malaysia, Pandemic


Author(s):  
Michael Halim

Since the emergency of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that is caused by SARS-Cov-2 in 2019, researchers have been on the move to find solutions to mitigate the spread of the virus. Various control measures have been put in place by governments under guidelines and recommendations of key global agencies with the world health organization (WHO) leading in providing information to help fight the pandemic. Multi-agency research efforts have been geared towards developing vaccines for active immunization to prevent COVID-19 infection. This paper is geared towards providing a detailed review and analysis of developments of the current vaccines in terms of safety and efficacy. Approaches that have been taken by different researchers and their findings are the subject of this work. Based on the mechanism by which a vaccine protects an individual against COVID-19 infection, it has been found that the already rolled out vaccines are mRNA (Pfizer and Moderna) and vector (Astrazeneca) vaccine structured. There is also China's Sinovac vaccine which has been in place for the past few years. The four vaccines reviewed here are administered in two doses some days apart. Currently, no vaccine has a safety threat and the efficacies are 95% for COVID-19 mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer), 94.1% for mRNA-1273 vaccine (Moderna), 70.4%forChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine / AZD1222 (AstraZeneca) vaccine and 78% for sinovac respectively. Findings of this paper show that other vaccines are awaiting clinical roll out for trials. Even though these efficacies imply that the vaccines offer significant protection against the infection, further research and evaluation should go on to achieve higher efficacies while addressing any safety concerns that may go beyond local and systemic reactions that occur on patients after vaccination. This study concludes that even with the protection of the present vaccines, individuals must continue wearing personal protective equipment (PPEs) such as masks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1483-1486
Author(s):  
Xuebin Wei ◽  
Mingshu Wang ◽  
Menno-Jan Kraak

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a pandemic. Despite an increasing number of international attempts using maps to present and communicate COVID-19-related information in different organizations, most map products have only used the presentation function of maps. Against this backdrop, we offer an automatically daily-updated, color-blind-friendly, Tableau-based interactive dashboard to demonstrate where and how different countries are fighting against COVID-19. The dashboard allows users to specify countries they want to compare and aggregate relevant data on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.


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