This is the time for facts, not fear.

This is the time for science, not rumours.

This is the time for solidarity, not stigma.

–WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus

What is Coronavirus?

It is one of the viruses that cause your run-of-the-mill common cold. Most people don’t bother memorizing details because it’s generally a nuisance rather than a serious medical illness. When medical students study infectious diseases, a topic that is a lot of rote memorization,  this is what they usually remember the most:

Rhinovirus and Coronavirus share the following commonalities:

• Causes upper respiratory illness (Rhinovirus causes around 80% of colds),
• Transmitted by aerosols of respiratory droplets and direct contact,
• Contains a single-stranded (RNA), positive sense virus

BUT, Coronavirus, as we have all figured out by now, comes in worse forms. Unlike Rhinovirus, it is “enveloped”, or protected by a covering. And, like other dangerous viruses, HIV for instance, this can give it some extra protection against mammalian immune systems.

Remember, this is a virus. Antibiotics do not work on viruses. That’s why physicians do not prescribe antibiotics for colds. Like all other viruses, it does not have its own cell. Viruses are the ultimate catfish. They scam your cells into thinking they belong inside and begin a parasitic relationship. Coronavirus uses your cell ribosomes to start copying it’s RNA, rather than your own! Then it uses your cell’s building blocks to replicate itself.

Coronavirus is hard to grow in labs. Which means it’s hard to test and develop antivirals and vaccinations for it.

You’ve heard of Coronavirus before! It is the culprit behind MERS and SARS, and now introducing….drumroll please…. COVID-19.

The name is deliberately designed to remove references to location and animals and standardize the names of the eventual yearly mutations. Mainly, the WHO does not want to destroy the economy by constantly referencing a potential pandemic arising from China.

By the way, your common cold Coronavirus has names too, like 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1.

References to read:
https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-ihr-emergency-committee-on-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/about/symptoms.html