How the symptoms of coronavirus change day by day

For 80% of people, coronavirus infection is safe. But knowing when to ask for help is worth everyone.

Scientists still do not fully understand what the SARS ‑ CoV ‑ 2 coronavirus is and how to deal with COVID ‑ 19, the disease it causes. But it is already clear exactly how in most cases the disease develops and how long its symptoms appear.

Lifehacker leads the timelineClinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study the average COVID-19 - by days since infection. Watch out for important signs of illness.

An accurate diagnosis can only be made by a doctor and only on the basis of a test. If you have symptoms of coronavirus, first contact your physician or call the hotline 8 800 20-00-112 and follow the instructions..

Day 1

Infection. The risk of contracting the virus is highest anywhere in a crowd, at a supermarket checkout, in a subway car. Or, for example, in personal communication with a person who recently returned from abroad.

It may take 2 to 14 days for the first symptoms to appear. In some cases, the incubation period lasts up to 27 days.Coronavirus incubation could be as long as 27 days, Chinese provincial government says - the term, presumably, depends on the characteristics of a particular person. However, such a long period is extremely rare.

Most often, COVID-19 makes itself felt after about 5 days.The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application after infection.

We are based on this figure in further calculations.

Days 3-5

Digestive symptoms. Although WHO considersQ ‑ A Coronavirus their uncharacteristic for coronavirus (after all, the infection mainly affects the respiratory tract), there is dataClinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients with digestive symptoms in Hubei, China: a descriptive, cross-sectional, multicenter studythat every second sick person has stomach problems.

In most cases, patients complain about:

• loss of appetite;
• diarrhea;
• vomiting;
• abdominal pain.

Please note: these symptoms are not yet a sign of illness. The stomach can hurt for a variety of reasons. It's another matter if, against the background of a digestive disorder, signs characteristic of a coronavirus infection appear.

Days 5-10

Key symptoms of coronavirus are emerging. In the vast majority of cases, there are three of them.Symptoms | CDC:

1. The temperature rises to about 38–39 ° С.
2. Dry cough.
3. Weakness.

Signs are similar to those that appear with flu. And this is one of the main problems in the diagnosis of COVID-19. There are no characteristic symptoms that would make it possible to immediately distinguish coronavirus infection from ordinary seasonal SARS. You cannot say: "If you have a runny nose, this is definitely not a coronavirus." Or: "If you have a dry cough, but the temperature is not high, this is definitely a common SARS."

Key symptoms of coronavirus may or may not be accompanied by additional:

• runny nose;
• stuffy nose;
• sore throat;
• moist cough with sputum;
• chills;
• muscle pain and joints.

In some cases, COVID-19 goes away easily and is almost asymptomatic. And sometimes it manifests itself in non-standard signs. For example, complete or partial loss of smell - anosmia. Reported byQ ‑ A Coronavirus experts from the British Association of Otorhinolaryngology.

In 30% of patients in South Korea who carry the disease easily, anosmia was the main symptom.

Claire Hopkins, President of the British Rhinological Society, Professor of Rhinology at King's College London

However, for a mild course of COVID-19, about 4-7 days after the onset of symptoms patient It gets better. The man is recovering. Such lucky ones according to statistics - 80%Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) of the total number of cases.

But in 20% of all cases, the process is difficult. And the disease manifests itself as additional symptoms.

Days 10-12

In about a weekFeatures, Evaluation and Treatment Coronavirus (COVID-19) after the first signs of infection, the condition of some patients deteriorates sharply. Problems appearSymptoms | CDC with breathing:

• severe shortness of breath, difficulty breathing in;
• painful, tight feeling in the chest;
• extreme weakness, blurred consciousness;
• bluish lips, pallor.

Such symptoms indicate that severe pneumonia. The lungs are damaged and the person experiences oxygen deprivation. Urgent hospitalization is required.

Treatment of such patients may take a week or two and require oxygen therapy (inhalation of air with an increased oxygen content).

Days 12-14

Three quarters of patients who develop viral pneumonia are slowly beginning to recover.

But a quarter (up to 6% of the total number of cases) develop a dangerous complication - acute respiratory distress syndromeTreatment for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome from COVID-19. In this case, the immune cells, which must fight the infection inside the lungs, go crazy and begin to attack, including healthy tissues.

The patient's condition deteriorates sharply, he loses the ability to breathe on his own and needs to be connected to an artificial lung ventilation (ALV) device.

Days 14-19

Artificial lung ventilation is an extreme measure. Which, moreover, does not always help: half of the patients connected to the device still die. In most cases, this occurs on the 14-19th day from the moment infestations.

But ventilation helps some people. The condition of the sick is improving. However, the damage to the lungs and the disorders caused by them - respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological and others - never go away.