Science consists of observing the world by watching, listening, observing, and recording. Science is curiosity in thoughtful action about the world and how it behaves.

NASA


OVERVIEW 

The COVID-19 Lab is a project developed to document relevant scientific information on the coronavirus 2019-nCoV pandemic. The Lab is comprised of a compendium of scientists from around the world that have been closely tracking the outbreak—from inside and outside varying levels of research—including across Europe, China, South Korea and Iran. This website, primarily, documents and catalogs scientific findings. 

EPIDEMIOLOGY

epidemiology {ep´ï-de´me-ol´o-je} 1. the study of the relationships of the various factors determining the frequency and distribution of diseases in human communities. 2. the field of medicine concerned with the determination of the specific causes of localized outbreaks of infection, such as hepatitis, of toxic disorders, such as lead poisoning, or any other disease of recognized etiology. 

—Dorland’s Medical Dictionary

MAPPING AND STATISTICS 

Real-time tracking of the coronavirus disease is being done via ArcGIS at John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center, click on the map or go directly to there website to find out the latest reported cases by country at: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Additional real-time tracking of the coronavirus disease can be found at the Our World in Data website, below is the daily vs cumulative confirmed deaths to COVID-19 as recorded by them. A detailed look at their research and statistics can be found on their dedicated coronavirus website at: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus

THE START

On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of an outbreak of “pneumonia of unknown cause” detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China—the seventh-largest city in China with 11 million residents. As of January 23, there are over 800 cases of 2019-nCoV confirmed globally, including cases in at least 20 regions in China and nine countries/territories. The first reported infected individuals, some of whom showed symptoms as early as December 8, were discovered to be among stallholders from the Wuhan South China Seafood Market. Subsequently, the wet market was closed on Jan 1. The virus causing the outbreak was quickly determined to be a novel coronavirus. On January 10, gene sequencing further determined it to be the new Wuhan coronavirus, namely 2019-nCoV, a betacoronavirus, related to the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome virus (MERS-CoV) and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus (SARSCoV). However, the mortality and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV are still unknown, and likely to vary from those of the prior referenced coronaviruses. 


Infected travelers (primarily air) are known to be responsible for introductions of the virus outside Wuhan. On Jan 13 Thailand reported the first international case outside China, while the first cases within China, but outside of Wuhan were reported on January 19, in Guangdong and Beijing. On January 20, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed that the coronavirus can be transmitted between humans. On the same day human infections with 2019-nCoV had also been confirmed in Japan and South Korea, and the following day cases in the U.S. and Taiwan were detected in travelers returning from Wuhan. On January 21 multiple provinces in China were also reporting new cases and infection was confirmed in 15 healthcare workers, with six fatalities reported. Additional travel cases have now been confirmed in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Vietnam. On Jan 22, a WHO emergency committee convened to discuss whether the outbreak should be classified as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under International Health Regulations, but were initially undecided due to lack of information, before deciding against the declaration.


Of immediate concern is the risk of further transmission resulting from high travel volumes and mass gatherings in celebration of the Chinese New Year on January 24. In attempts to mitigate local transmission within China, unprecedented outbreak control strategies were implemented in (initially) three cities. On 23 January 2020, Wuhan suspended  all public transport and air travel (in and out of the city), placing all 11 million city residents under quarantine. On Jan 24, Huanggang and Ezhou, cities adjacent to Wuhan, will also be placed under a similar quarantine, with more cities in China now following suit. Further, many cities have canceled Chinese New Year celebrations. As Wuhan is a major air transportation hub in central China, various measures have been taken on a global scale to mitigate international spread. Targeted airport screening of passengers traveling from Wuhan was initiated as early as January 1 in Hong Kong and Macau. Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand starting to screen arriving passengers on January 3. In the U.S., the CDC began entry screening of passengers on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan to the three main ports of entry on January 17, 2020, with Atlanta and Chicago soon to be added. On January 23 the U.S. CDC raised its travel notice for Wuhan, China, to the highest of three levels. Additional Pacific and Asian countries including Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India are now also conducting targeted passenger screening at airports.


Reference

Dong E, Du H, Gardner L. An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time. Lancet Infect Dis; published online 19 February 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30120-1.

LATEST PUBLICATIONS

For free access to expert, curated information for the research and health community on SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus) and COVID-19 (the disease), see: 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL

MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPLUBLIC OF CHINA

ECONOMIC SHOCK RESEARCH 

CALL FOR CHAPTERS 

Title: Urban Economic Shocks: Causation, Lockdown, and Impacts

Editors: Prof. Giuseppe T. Cirella (University of Gdansk) and Prof. Bharat Dahiya (Thammasat University)

 

Abstracts should be sent to the editors:

Prof. Giuseppe T. Cirella [gt.cirella@ug.edu.pl] and Prof. Bharat Dahiya [bharat@sgs.tu.ac.th] using the email subject heading: Urban Economic Shocks Chapter

EARLY TREATMENT

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The following therapeutical approaches are a personalized treatment, based on the available scientific evidence, on the biological plausibility, and on each patient situation. The only purpose of the following information is not to give guidelines or therapeutical indications, but to open a dialogue between physicians to get a better treatment of the patients involved in this pandemic. All the published indications are for practitioners only.

Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance 

Bird Group,  British physicians Ivermectin group

How to treat COVID-19 

Article dated 15 December 2020