Simple FAQs for COVID-19: A Rapid but Comprehensive Review with Up-to-the-Minute Evidence — I, Characteristics of COVID-19

By Dr. Radoslalva Mitova, Andrey Filipov, Dr. Slaveyko Djambazov PhD

Overview: What is COVID-19?

The year 2020 is marked by the first modern pandemic. COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus closely related to SARS-CoV. SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have made the jump from animals (bats or pangolins) to humans at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of the Chinese province of Hubei. For less than half a year, the virus has been confirmed in 93% of the United Nations-recognized countries in the world. COVID-19 has had an enormous and unprecedented effect on the world’s population in clinical, social, and economic terms.

In this rapid review, we aim to answer the most frequently asked questions about the novel coronavirus. As the pandemic is still unfolding, we describe the most important current evidence regarding COVID-19.

Here we explain how the virus spreads, what measures we can take to prevent its transmission, and if we can expect transmission to slow down. Importantly, we also discuss how the immune system responds to COVID-19, and what proof is there towards long-lasting…