{"id":3223,"date":"2020-03-16T09:25:39","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T09:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thinksite.co.za\/africacdc\/?post_type=disease&p=3223"},"modified":"2020-03-19T05:08:38","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T05:08:38","slug":"covid-19","status":"publish","type":"disease","link":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a communicable respiratory disease\u00a0<\/span>caused by a new\u00a0strain of coronavirus\u00a0that causes illness\u00a0in humans. Scientists are still learning about the disease, and think that\u00a0<\/span>the virus began in animals. At some point, one or more humans acquired\u00a0infection from an animal, and those infected humans began transmitting\u00a0infection to other humans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The disease spreads from person to person through infected air droplets that are projected during sneezing or coughing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>It can also be transmitted when humans have contact with hands or surfaces that contain the virus and touch their eyes, nose, or mouth with the contaminated hands.\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
COVID-19 was first reported in China, but it has now spread throughout the world.\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
There is currently no known vaccine or treatment for COVID-19. Infection can be prevented by observing personal hygiene practices:<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n
    \n
  1. Wash your hands regularly with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub.<\/li>\n
  2. Make sure you have received all recommended vaccines.<\/li>\n
  3. If the influenza vaccine is available in your community, you should try to obtain it. Influenza virus causes symptoms similar to 2019-nCoV. If you can prevent influenza infection, you can also reduce the likelihood of needing to visit a health care facility for evaluation of respiratory infection. If you develop fever, cough, and\/or difficulty in breathing:\n
      \n
    • Cover your cough or sneeze in your inner flexed arm\/elbow or on a tissue paper.<\/li>\n
    • If you have mild symptoms, stay at home. Do not go to school, to work, or to other public places until you are completely free of all symptoms.<\/li>\n
    • If you have more severe symptoms (such as difficulty in breathing), cover your mouth with a mask or scarf. Go to a medical facility and immediately notify the first person you encounter (even a security guard) that you are\u00a0worried that you have a respiratory infection.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a communicable respiratory disease\u00a0caused by a new\u00a0strain of coronavirus\u00a0that causes illness\u00a0in humans. Scientists are still learning about the disease, and think that\u00a0the virus began in animals. At some point, one or more humans acquired\u00a0infection from an animal, and those infected humans began transmitting\u00a0infection to other humans.\u00a0 The disease […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3224,"template":"","tags":[161],"disease-category":[167],"class_list":["post-3223","disease","type-disease","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","disease-category-cover-19"],"yoast_head":"\nCOVID-19 – Africa CDC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID-19 – Africa CDC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a communicable respiratory disease\u00a0caused by a new\u00a0strain of coronavirus\u00a0that causes illness\u00a0in humans. Scientists are still learning about the disease, and think that\u00a0the virus began in animals. At some point, one or more humans acquired\u00a0infection from an animal, and those infected humans began transmitting\u00a0infection to other humans.\u00a0 The disease […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa CDC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/africacdc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-19T05:08:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/COVID-19.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AfricaCDC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/\",\"name\":\"COVID-19 – Africa CDC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/COVID-19.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-16T09:25:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-19T05:08:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/COVID-19.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/COVID-19.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"COVID-19\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Diseases\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"COVID-19\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/\",\"name\":\"Africa CDC\",\"description\":\"Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/AUACDC4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/AUACDC4.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/africacdc\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AfricaCDC\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/africacdc\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"COVID-19 – Africa CDC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"COVID-19 – Africa CDC","og_description":"The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a communicable respiratory disease\u00a0caused by a new\u00a0strain of coronavirus\u00a0that causes illness\u00a0in humans. Scientists are still learning about the disease, and think that\u00a0the virus began in animals. At some point, one or more humans acquired\u00a0infection from an animal, and those infected humans began transmitting\u00a0infection to other humans.\u00a0 The disease […]","og_url":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/","og_site_name":"Africa CDC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/africacdc\/","article_modified_time":"2020-03-19T05:08:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/COVID-19.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@AfricaCDC","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/","url":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/","name":"COVID-19 – Africa CDC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/COVID-19.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-16T09:25:39+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-19T05:08:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/COVID-19.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/COVID-19.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"COVID-19"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/covid-19\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Diseases","item":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/disease\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"COVID-19"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/","name":"Africa CDC","description":"Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#organization","name":"Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention","url":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/AUACDC4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/AUACDC4.jpg","width":1600,"height":800,"caption":"Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/africacdc\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AfricaCDC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/africacdc\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disease\/3223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disease"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/disease"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disease\/3223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3223"},{"taxonomy":"disease-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/disease-category?post=3223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}