Fact 1
CoV is short for CoronaVirus, coronavirus. This is the name of a family of viruses (there are about 40 of them in total), which outwardly resemble the solar corona because of the spiny processes.

Fact 2
Coronaviruses are impostors from biology. The tip of each spike "imitates" a molecule of a useful substance, so that cellular receptors happily pull it into themselves - and the whole virus is pushed into the cell behind the spike. This is how infection occurs.

Fact 3
Over 2 million years of evolution, our immune system has learned to fight most of the known infections, but the new coronavirus takes it by surprise - that's why it's so hard to cope with and so easy to get infected.

Fact 4
Once in the cell, the virus "seizes" control over it and forces it to endlessly produce its own copies - instead of the proteins it is accustomed to. A chain reaction begins. As a result, the cell dies, but the carrier of the infection becomes contagious.

Fact 5
At the initial stage of infection, the new coronavirus actively multiplies in the throat and upper respiratory tract. Then the infection sinks lower and can reach the lungs, causing inflammation.

Fact 6
That is why the first symptom of infection is cough. Only then the temperature begins to rise.

Fact 7
Or does not start - 30% of patients in Wuhan had a temperature at the time of arrival at the hospital was not higher than normal.

Fact 8
Many infected (18% or almost one in five) do not even have a cough. The disease proceeds without symptoms at all - a person may not even suspect that he is sick.

Fact 9
At the same time, such an asymptomatic patient is still an active carrier of infection and can infect others.

Fact 10
If Covid-19 is mild, its symptoms are very similar to the usual seasonal flu: dry cough, fever, general weakness, sometimes muscle pain or headache.