Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). All coronaviruses are zoonotic. They start in animals and can then, following mutation, recombination, and adaptation, passed on to humans. This process is called ‘spillover.’ The first coronavirus was discovered in chickens in the 1930s. It was a few decades until the first human coronavirus got discovered in the 1960s. To date, seven coronaviruses can cause disease in humans. Four are endemic (regularly found among particular people or in a specific area) and are responsible for about 10-15% of common colds, mostly during winter. The coronaviruses that cause mild to moderate disease in humans are called: 229E, OC43, NL63, and HKU1. Thus, most of us will be infected with a coronavirus at least once in our life (but luckily there isn’t anything to worry about). The other three – SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 – appear to have jumped to the human population more recently. Worryingly, these three result in a high mortality rate.

In 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) caused an outbreak of the disease Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in mainland China and Hong Kong. Similarly, in 2012 the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) led to an outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and The Republic of Korea. In both cases, the coronaviruses were new to science. Happily, both outbreaks were contained thanks to a combination of human intervention and still unknown natural circumstances. Currently, the whole world is fighting from COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2.

COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 initiated from a wet market in Wuhan, China. The hunt for the animal source of Covid-19 is still unknown. Some researchers relate it to the type of coronavirus found in bats, and others link it to pangolin. While the cause of the current outbreak was initially unknown, on January 7, Chinese health authorities identified that it was caused by a strain of coronavirus that had not been encountered in humans before. Five days later, the Chinese government shared the genetic sequence of the virus so that other countries could develop their diagnostic kits. World Health Organization (WHO) characterized it as a ‘pandemic’ on 11th March’20. According to mathematical models designed by American researchers, the primary reproductive number (Ro –R naught) of Covid-19 is 2.3, meaning each infected person can infect 2.3 persons. Under the current lockdown restrictions, Ro is now estimated to have dropped to somewhere between 0.6 and 0.9. This means that the pandemic is shrinking – although not uniformly.

Covid-19 unexpectedly hit the world. Starting from a city, now, the whole world is under its threat. An only known method to fight it is social distancing and lockdowns. These ways of preventions completely transformed the world how it used to work. Lockdowns have limited the human movement either by land or by air. This resulted in lesser pollution, which the world wanted to do for several years. Educational institutes changed their traditional way of classroom teaching and started online classes. Social distancing and quarantine gave people a chance to spend time with family, create a stronger bond, and learn or improve their skill set. It also altered the banking sectors around the globe. People switched to online banking and contactless payments. All these points might sound gains of coronavirus, but this pandemic badly hits world economies. The world is on the path to depression, and by some analysts, this economic depression will be the worst than The Great Depression of the 1930s. Due to this, unemployment and poverty will be increased.

The world will take years to cope with the aftermath of this global crisis. This crisis will be cited in future writing as a historical event like World War I and II and how it changed the human lives socially, economically, and digitally. The world will have to learn a lesson from it and should start focusing more on the weak health sectors. It is also a possibility that the phenomenon of ‘Globalization’ will be replaced by that of ‘Nationalism.’ The effect of this transformation on world politics and the economy is a whole new debate and topic for some other day. At the moment, humans should practice social distancing and win the battle against this virus.

--Written By: Syyed Roshaan

--Edited By: The Sibling Bloggers

P.S: Writer can be  reached out at roshaan.rehman@gmail.com