The 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 novel virus, originated in Wuhan, China before rapidly spreading around the world.
COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory disease, with a high rate of transmissibility. Symptoms of infection include fever, joint and muscle aches, respiratory distress, loss of the sense of taste, cognitive fog, fatigue, sore throat, and more. Senior citizens are most at risk of dying from the disease, though secondary pre-existing conditions like obesity can make some patients more susceptible to danger. In severe cases, patients undergo respiratory distress and require intubation on ventilators.
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, governments have initiated several policies to prevent spread. Many countries have severely restricted flights or entry into their state, with some like Israel adopting color systems to rank the risk posed by each destination. Contact tracing has become the norm, with citizens being obligated to quarantine after they have come into contact with an infected person. Social distancing and mask mandates have also become popular in many countries to prevent spread of infection. Early in the pandemic, lockdowns were used to prevent interaction between the public, in a severe attempt to halt transmission. Perhaps most controversial were the introduction of coronavirus passports, which would allow vaccinated citizens to move freely with a new form of ID. Critics assert that coronavirus passports represent an extreme violation of liberties.
There is an ongoing debate as to the origin of the coronavirus. Initially, it was accepted that the coronavirus originated in a wet market in Wuhan, China, within bats sold as food. However, it has been suggested that the virus may have originated from a virus research lab in Wuhan.
Several pharmaceutical companies have developed innovative mRNA vaccines to counter the coronavirus. Pfizer, Biontech, Astrazeneca, Moderna, Sinopharm and others have produced vaccines, however there is ongoing debate about their efficacy against new strains of the virus. Other pharmaceutical companies have developed treatments and drugs to alleviate and combat coronavirus symptoms.
The coronavirus is prone to mutations, and has already produced several well known variants, including the Delta and Lambda strains. The pandemic and virus may also colloquially be known as corona and COVID.
Netanyahu wasted a huge amount of money on developing an Israeli COVID vaccine at a lab unsuited for the job – and it failed anyway.
Lots of people suffer from breathing difficulties, coughs, sore throat and fevers – and these could be symptoms of all three of these viruses. So how do you know when to do a COVID test?
The study raises concerns over a potential second zoonotic outbreak of the virus from rats to humans and stresses the need to monitor COVID in rats.
Israeli scientists announce 100% effectiveness of mRNA vaccine against Black Plague-causing bacteria in preclinical trial performed on mice.
You can buy enovid in Israel, Europe and parts of Southeast Asia, but not yet in North America, where NO is approved only as a prescription drug to help with blue baby syndrome,
Readers of The Jerusalem Post have their say.
How can people prevent a future pandemic if they don’t know basic details about how the recent one began?
Self-perception of attractiveness can impact one's social behavior. This study examined whether this could extend to wearing face masks.
Claims that a lab leak in China led to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have been circulating for years, but they remain a subject of considerable dispute.
Researchers prepared human cell cultures and infected some of them with ACE2. In the cells treated with the amino acid, ACE2 was found to have not spread as much.
JPOST Digital Library
