The fear and panic among the public about the coronavirus are increasing furthermore after the World Health Organization has announced it to be a pandemic. While it is right that there are deep concerns and mass planning of worst-case scenarios, it is also important that we must not panic.

Here are some reasons why you need not panic about COVID-19:

  1. Being announced as a pandemic doesn’t refer to the lethality of the virus but to its transmissibility and geographical extension, mentioned MedicalXpress. ‘Pandemic’ means that a disease is sustained and that there can be a continuous transmission of the disease, simultaneously in more than a couple of different geographical regions.
  2. Although the first-ever case of HIV was described in June 1981, it took over two years to identify what was causing the deadly disease. But the COVID-19 which began in China on December 31, 2019, was identified within a week’s time.
  3. Since January 13, COVID-19 testing has been available. Not only can this help the infected person to get early treatment but also prevent the spread of the virus. “ New tools of cell and molecular biology have led to increased understanding of intracellular replication and viral cell biology, and the advent in the past five years of reverse genetic approaches to study coronaviruses has made it possible to begin to define the determinants of viral replication, transspecies adaptation, and human disease ”, mentioned Mark R Dension in his paper published in his coronavirus research paper.
  4. COVID-19 causes no symptoms or mild ones in about 80% of the cases. According to health experts, even though the disease can be fatal, the vast majority of those infected so far exhibit only mild symptoms and recover completely. “Many people are now panicking, and some actually are exaggerating the risks,” the New York Times quoted Dr. Jin Dongyan, a virology expert at the University of Hong Kong. “For governments, for public health professionals — they also have to deal with these, because these will also be harmful,” he added.
  5. Only less than 3% of COVID-19 cases appear in young people below 20. The mortality rates are only 0.2 for those under 40. Also, the symptoms are so mild in children that it can sometimes go unnoticed, mentioned MedicalXpress.
  6. Moreover, experts are on it, globally, to provide a solution. There are over 150 articles on COVID-19 available in PubMed. Numerous works on vaccines, treatments, epidemiology, genetics, diagnosis and clinical aspects are already underway. There is a spectacular ability to design new vaccines and antiviral trials. Currently, more than eight projects are underway.
Panic and anxiety are rising with the number of coronavirus cases in Italy, which is suffering through Europe's worst outbreak
Panic and anxiety are rising with the number of coronavirus cases in Italy, which is suffering through Europe's worst outbreak AFP / Miguel MEDINA