COVID-19, also called the novel coronavirus, is a highly contagious respiratory illness that has affected millions of people around the world. In December 2019, the virus first appeared in Wuhan, China. It quickly spread around the world, causing a global pandemic. The virus usually spreads when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks. It can also spread when an infected person touches a surface that has the virus on it. COVID-19 can cause mild to severe symptoms, but some people have no symptoms at all. The most common symptoms are fever, cough, and tiredness. More severe cases can lead to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and even death. People who are older or who already have health problems like diabetes, obesity, or heart disease are more likely to get sick. Governments and health organizations all over the world have taken different steps to slow the spread of the virus. These include making people wear masks, setting rules about how far apart people should be from each other, and running vaccination campaigns. Even with all of these efforts, the virus still affects millions of people around the world and has a big impact on daily life, economies, and health care. People need to follow public health rules and get vaccinated as soon as they can if they want to stop the pandemic. COVID-19 is also being studied so that new treatments and vaccines can be made to fight it. This gives people hope that one day this virus won’t be a threat to global health.
