What you should know about dealing with the corona virus

If you have had personal contact with a person where the corona virus has been detected in the laboratory, you should contact your local health authority immediately and regardless of symptoms.

The responsible health authority can be determined here.

If you have been in a risk area designated by the RKI, you should avoid unnecessary contact and stay at home.

If you have stayed in a region where COVID-19 cases occur, but which are not risk areas, the following applies: If you develop a fever, cough or shortness of breath within 14 days of your return journey, you should consult a doctor, after making an appointment by telephone and giving information about the journey. You can also call 116 117 for further information.

Stay at home! The most important goal at the moment is to interrupt the chain of infection and limit the spread of the virus. That is why our social life has been largely shut down: closed schools, day-care centres and shops - no visits to the cinema, playground or restaurant.

The following basic rules also apply:

- Avoid shaking hands, wash your hands thoroughly and keep your distance - according to experts, at least 1.5 metres.

- The so-called coughing and sneezing “etiquette” should also be observed. When coughing or sneezing, keep at least one metre away from other people and turn away from them.

- It is best to use a disposable handkerchief - only use once and then dispose of it in a trash can with a lid. If a cloth handkerchief is used, it should then be washed at 60 ° C.

- Wash your hands thoroughly after blowing your nose, sneezing or coughing.

- If no handkerchief is at hand, you can sneeze into the crook of your arm.

Disinfectants are a good support when washing hands. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) writes:

“For chemical disinfection you should use agents with proven effectiveness, e.g. ones labelled  'limited virucidal' (effective against enveloped viruses), 'limited virucidal PLUS' or 'virucidal'.”

In general, we recommend the measures that are normally advisable for infectious diseases. Acute sufferers should, if possible, stay at home to recover, so that the virus is not spread further.

On March 1, the first Covid 19 patient became known in Berlin, and a day later a case was confirmed in Brandenburg. There are now hundreds.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) regularly updates its website with an overview of the cases reported in Germany.

Yes. The doctor who suspects that the patient has been infected with the new corona virus must report this immediately (within 24 hours) to the health department, in accordance with the Coronavirus Reporting Obligation Ordinance. The laboratory, which detects the novel corona virus in a human being, must also report this to the health department.

The word corona comes from Latin and means crown or halo. Because of their many processes, the pathogens of this group of viruses under the microscope are reminiscent of a crown or the rays of the sun's corona.

The corona virus family has many types that can affect humans. Some cause an ordinary cold, while others, which originate from bats, camels and other animals, have developed into serious diseases such as Sars or Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome).

The Sars-CoV-2 virus, now discovered for the first time in China, is a new virus strain that had not previously occurred in humans. Like the Sars virus, it is one of  the beta corona viruses and has 80 percent of the same genetic makeup as Sars. However, the proteins with which the virus docks onto human cells differ significantly from Sars.

The first cases occurred in December 2019 in Wuhan, a city with many millions of inhabitants in the central Chinese province of Hubei. Many of those affected were identified as visitors or workers at a market where wild animals were sold alive or raised for slaughter. Apparently, this market plays an important role in the way the virus was able to spread from one species to another. It is still unclear which animal Sars-Cov-2 appeared first. The first human-to-human transmissions took place in Wuhan.

The official name for the new disease is now Covid-19. CO stands for Corona, VI for Virus, D for Disease and 19 for the year it appeared.

The WHO is still looking for the animal source for the new virus. It is known that the reservoir all corona viruses stem from is a certain species of bat, the horseshoe bat. Since bats and humans do not come into such close contact that a transmission could take place, science assumes there must be an intermediate host.

Christian Drosten, virologist from the Charité, spoke out against the theory propounded by Chinese scientists that the “pangolin” or scaly anteater could be this intermediate host: “Pangolins do not eat bats, and we tend to assume that it must be a carnivorous animal that hunts bats,” said Drosten.

Animals had also passed the virus on to humans in the case of Sars and Mers: Sars was passed on to humans from viverrids or raccoon dogs in 2002, also in China. In the case of Mers, it was camels that transmitted the disease ten years later, and the country of origin was Saudi Arabia.

Covid-19 is believed to be passed on by air. Humans inhale so-called aerosols, tiny droplets filled with pathogens, which are produced when coughing or sneezing. Apparently healthy people can also transmit the disease. The number of those infected with the virus, but showing no symptoms, is estimated to be around 80 percent. Many people can therefore pass on the disease without knowing it.

In addition, the incubation period of the disease - that is, the time in which the disease has not yet broken out - is comparatively long. There may be up to 14 days between infection and the first symptoms. This makes the virus difficult to contain.

Surfaces and handles previously touched by infected people are also considered sources of infection.

On average, an infected person infects two to three people. Whether this remains the case depends on how good the containment measures are. The rate of transmission must fall below factor 1 to stop Sars-Cov-2 from spreading.

In comparison: A flu patient passes on influenza viruses to two to three people. Measles is particularly contagious: twelve to 18 people can fall ill from one infected person.

The transferability of this new virus is higher than initially thought. The reason for this, like the flu or influenza virus, it already starts multiplying in the throat - and not only in the depth of the lungs like Sars. This simplifies detection with the help of throat swabs, but also shortens the transmission path and explains the high risk of infection.

Risk groups include those who have an underlying or previous medical condition. “Older people are also a particular risk group, and there is an emphasis on the male sex,” says Berlin-based virologist, Christian Drosten.

Underlying diseases are primarily those that weaken the immune system, such as chronic lung or kidney diseases. The virus could also be dangerous for people with transplanted organs or those who are suffering from a tumour, said the head of infectious diseases at the Frankfurt am Main Health Department, Antoni Walczok, in an interview with the Hessischer Rundfunk (Hessian Radio).

For most children, young people, and middle-aged people, the coronavirus is unlikely to be life-threatening if they are generally healthy. That is the current state of research. For infected people, the most important thing is how the body copes with the virus, said Torsten Bauer, chief physician for pneumology at Helios Klinikum Emil von Behring in Berlin-Zehlendorf, in an interview with rbb (Radio Berlin Brandenburg).

If the Sars-Cov-2 corona virus is suspected, the pathogen is usually detected using a molecular biological test. First, a doctor takes a sample from a patient's respiratory tract - either a smear or coughed up mucus. Specialists then prepare this sample in the laboratory and search for the genetic material of the virus using a so-called PCR test. In simple terms, a certain section of the virus genome is copied millions of times.

The copies are colour-coded with a kind of sensor probe. This colour marking can then be made visible with complex devices. If there are appropriate colour signals, it is a “positive sample”. Under ideal conditions, such a test takes three to five hours in a specialized laboratory.

According to Stephan Hofmeister, the deputy chairman of the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians), only seriously ill people who have had contact with infected people are tested. The health insurance companies cover the costs of the tests.

Coughing and fever are the most common signs of Covid-19, but other cold symptoms such as runny nose or scratchy throat or fever can also be signs. According to the RKI (Robert Koch Institut), some sufferers also suffer from diarrhea.

The disease usually appears initially as a cold. Children are practically not affected. The special risk group are older patients. More men get sick than women.

In some patients, the disease takes a more severe course and then leads to breathing problems and pneumonia. In people with a severe case of the disease, the disease lasts three to six weeks before it subsides. Those affected are likely to be contagious throughout the period of illness. More easily affected people recover within two weeks.

So far, deaths have mainly occurred in patients who were older and / or who had previously had chronic medical conditions.

China reported its first success in treating affected patients in January: fever and respiratory symptoms had decreased, the virus was no longer detectable. However, it is unclear what the Chinese used in this treatment.

According to the WHO, there is currently no vaccination or special therapy against Sars-Cov-2. It is more the case that the patients are treated symptomatically: by administering oxygen, antibiotics, antipyretic and pain-reducing therapies and stabilizing the fluid balance.

Scientists around the world are working on the development of a vaccine.

The Robert Koch Institute, however, has dampened any hopes of an early vaccine. Federal Research Minister, Anja Karliczek (CDU), also recommends that we be patient. “Developing vaccines takes time,” she said. There are high safety standards in the development of medicines. “In so far as it is within our sphere of control, we are speeding up the process.”

Many experts are of the opinion: Yes, after surviving Covid 19 disease, you are immune to the pathogen, “but we don't know how long this immunity lasts,” said RKI President Wieler. Many tests have been developed to demonstrate immunity. About half of the people who were infected did not even notice it.

According to the RKI, four out of five of those who notice something come down with only slight symptoms.

Translation: Paul McCarthy