Shakeel T. answered • 11/09/21
Neurologist and sleep medicine specialist
covid 19 is a coronavirus. (other corona viruses that caused epidemics in past decade include MERS coronavirus and SARS coronaviruses)
Viruses in general are very difficult to treat as they can survive harsh conditions. they have strong covering called caspid.
Covid 19 is an RNA virus, which means it mutates and replicates quickly. this is the secret weapon for its efficacy at not being easily controllable. even if we make make vaccine for a strain, new strain emerges.
just for example covid 19 variants
| Variant of Interest | First Detected |
| B.1.525 (Eta) | United Kingdom/Nigeria - December 2020 |
| B.1.526 (Iota) | United States (New York) - November 2020 |
| B.1.526.1 | United States (New York) - October 2020 |
| B.1.617 | India - February 2021 |
| B.1.617.1 (Kappa) | India - December 2020 |
| B.1.617.3 | India - October 2020 |
| P.2 (Zeta) | Brazil - April 2020 |
it is spread by droplet transmission.
viral shedding 8-37 days after getting infected means you get it and you are asymptomatic and you keep visiting others. now every time you sneeze cough or talk, droplets are released into air containing virus.
it can survive up to 72 hours on different surfaces.
all these reasons make it highly transmissible.
