15 interesting facts from the WHO report on coronavirus

The World Health Organization (WHO) sent a group of international experts to China to analyze the situation with the spread coronavirus COVID-19. Based on the results of their work took place big press conference and a special report about visiting Beijing, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu. Here are the most interesting facts from it:

1. COVID-19 does not usually travel long distances. Airborne infection is most likely only through close contact with the patient. That is why, at the very beginning, family members of the infected person fell ill.

2. Most of the 2,055 infected hospital workers were infected either at home or in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan, before all precautions were taken.

3. The illness usually lasts two weeks. In severe cases, 3 to 6 weeks.

4. Today in the province of Hubei, the capital of which is the city Wuhan, more than 65 thousand people are infected. About 40 thousand medical staff were sent there from other provinces.

5. The infected are served by 45 hospitals, 6 of which are intended for critically ill patients, and 39 for seriously ill patients and people over 65 years of age. In a short time, two new

hospitals for 2 600 seats. Since 80% of those infected show only mild signs of the disease, 10 temporary hospitals have been set up for them in gymnasiums and exhibition halls.

6. Currently, China could produce 1.6 million coronavirus diagnostic kits weekly. The test gives the result on the same day. All over the country, everyone who goes to the doctor with a fever is tested for the virus. In Guangdong province, which is far from Wuhan, 320,000 people were tested, 0.14% of them were infected.

7. Cases when the infected did not appear symptoms of the diseaseare very rare. Most often, the virus makes itself felt within a few days after infection.

8. The most common symptoms are fever (88%) and dry cough (68%), malaise (38%), coughing up mucus when coughing (33%), shortness of breath (18%), sore throat (14%), headaches (14%), muscle pain (14%), chills (11%). Less common are nausea and vomiting (5%), nasal congestion (5%) and diarrhea (4%). A runny nose is not a symptom of COVID-19.

9. A survey of 44,672 infected people in China showed an average death rate of 3.4%. This indicator is highly dependent on age, gender, presence of other health problems and the speed of the health system response. Thus, the mortality rate among those infected with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases was 13.2%, with a high blood sugar level - 9.2%, in people with high pressure - 8.4%, with chronic respiratory diseases - 8%. In the absence of health problems, the death rate of those infected is observed in 1.4% of cases.

10. China has already tested various treatments for the disease, and the most successful ones have been introduced throughout the country. Thanks to this, the death rate is now lower than a month ago.

11. The younger you are, the less chance of infection and complications from infection. At the moment, 72.8% of those infected are people over 40. Children and youth under 19 years old - 2.1% of those infected.

12. Women get sick just as often as men. However, only 2.8% of infected Chinese women died from the disease, while in men this figure reaches 4.7%. In pregnant women infected in the last trimester, children are born healthy. It is too early to talk about the effect of infection on the fetus in the earlier stages of pregnancy.

13. The new virus is genetically 96% identical to the known coronavirus in bats and 86–92% identical to the coronavirus in pangolins. Thus, transmission of the mutated virus from animals to humans is the most likely cause of COVID-19.

14. Since the end of January, the number of new infections in China has been steadily declining. Currently, on average, only 329 new cases are recorded per day. A month ago, their number was about 3,000.

15. China's surveys of infected people across the country have been incredibly effective in containing the outbreak. They are asked about all recent contacts with others and then checked. For this purpose, 1,800 teams work in Wuhan, each of which has at least 5 people. But the efforts outside the city are great too. For example, in Shenzhen, the infected named 2,842 people, all of whom were found. Currently, 2,240 of them have been tested, and it turned out that 2.8% of them also became infected. In Sichuan province, 25,493 people were named, of which 25,347 (99%) were found. Of these, 23,178 have already been examined and 0.9% were infected. In Guangdong province, 9,939 people were named, and all of them were also found - 7,765 of them have already been examined and 4.8% were infected. This means that upon contact with an infected person, the probability of contracting coronavirus is 1 to 5%.

Finally, a quote from the WHO report on China's contribution to containing the coronavirus:

China's bold approach to containing the rapid spread of this new respiratory pathogen has changed the course of the growing deadly epidemic. In the face of a previously unknown virus, China has deployed what is arguably the most ambitious, swift and aggressive disease containment measure. China's uncompromising and rigorous use of non-pharmaceutical measures to contain the transmission of COVID-19 in a variety of settings provides vital lessons for the global response.