Coronavirus Disease 2019: The Emergence of Popular Unverified Myths and Realities to Its Spread

Abstract

In December  2019  there  was a plague of a novel  human  coronavirus  disease  called  coronavirus  disease  2019  and abbreviated as COVID-19. It's caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease is being described  as a world pandemic  following its spread across over 199 nations and territories in several regions of the globe. The disease  is characterized  by respiratory  distress  and fever,  with  the likelihood  of being   transmitted  via contact  with  droplets emanating  from the cough and sneezing of an infected patient which readily contaminates  animate and inanimate  surfaces  with a period of 2-14 days. On contact, approximately  80%, 5% and 14% of infected persons display mild symptoms, critical condition and develop severe conditions respectively, while the opposite 1 % are asymptomatic.  Based on online data available as at March 30th     2020,   15:49   GMT,   over   746,   066   confirmed   cases,   35,347   fatalities   and   157,078   recovered   cases have   been ascertained. According  to current global trends at the time of this study, the mortality in Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania,  South America, North America and Europe were 3.10%, 4.07%, 0.39%, 6.31%, 1.79% and 2.29% respectively.    The continuous spread of the virus has also given way to the popularization  of numerous  misconceptions  or myths hovering through the news and social media  channels.  Hence,  this paper  clarifies information  about  the virus  with respect  to various  terms (its spread,  intermediate host, creation/source,  conditions for survival, treatment drugs/vaccines, persistence on inanimate surfaces, among others) and the need for research to be carried out on the myths surrounding the virus.