COVID-19

How soap kills the coronavirus

Plain old soap and water absolutely annihilate coronavirus.

You've been told a thousand times: wash your hands to stop the spread of COVID-19. But why does this work so well? It has to do with the way the soap molecules are able to absolutely demolish viruses, like the coronavirus.

How Long Will Social Distancing Last? It's Complicated

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and flatten the curve,

many countries are practicing social distancing, or what the WHO is now calling physical distancing. The virus is transmitted via respiratory droplets, so maintaining physical distance from people can help protect you and others. People are staying inside, working from home, and only going out for essential activities. But how long will this period of social distancing last? Unfortunately, no one knows for sure. The answer is complicated, and it partly depends on our actions.

Take precautions to protect yourself & your loved ones.

Together we can fight with #COVID19. Take precautions to protect yourself & your loved ones

Why fighting the coronavirus depends on you

If we can slow the virus down, it could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Read more about the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic at http://vox.com/coronavirus
In March 2020, the World Health Organization officially classified Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as a pandemic. That means the disease no longer constitutes just an outbreak or even an epidemic; the coronavirus has now spread around the world, and will continue to reach into other countries and communities.
That’s in part because of how contagious the virus is. When you’re infected with the flu, it takes about two days before you start to show symptoms. But coronavirus symptoms take an average of five to six days to appear, so it’s easy to spread well before you notice that you’re feeling sick. Many people are spreading it while going about their daily lives as usual.
The risk is that once coronavirus starts to spread in a community, about 20% of cases are severe and may require hospitalization. As those cases multiply, hospitals can fill up quickly. And people with severe cases of COVID-19 who can’t receive proper medical attention are at a much higher risk of dying.
Ideally, we would be able to stop the virus from spreading entirely. We can’t do that right now. What we can do is slow it down, so that the severe cases get spread out over a longer period of time, and hospitals are less likely to be overwhelmed on any given day. And that’s where each one of us comes in. The best way to slow down the spread is for everyone — healthy, sick, young, old — to limit social contact as much as possible, immediately. This is called social distancing, and it only works if enough of us do it. But if we do, it could mean the difference between the life and death of someone you know.

Why A Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Developed In Record Time

More than 40 vaccines are being developed

to combat the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization. Here are some companies that are beginning or have started clinical trials with a vaccine candidate.