Novel coronavirus - a challenge in diagnosing and timely treatment, and its impact on population health status

Abstract

In 2019, the world faced another of the potentially deadly viruses affecting humanity. The new virus, COVID-19, was extremely virulent when it first appeared, with aggressive behaviour toward people unprepared at the time to deal with the infection.Months later, we already know much about its pathophysiology, but new and unknown pathophysiological aspects of the disease are revealed in time. The clinical picture is not unequivocal at times, with symptoms quite unlike those we have previously considered normal in respiratory infections tending to appear. There have been reports of an increase in the frequency of neoplasms or disease progression due to delayed treatment. Treatment of COVID-19 is still a mirage, and people are struggling with the implications for recovery, the health and economic crisis, and the psychological effects of traumatic stress.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• epidemic
• health crisis
• pandemic