Health and Economic Impact of COVID-19: Mapping the Consequences of a Pandemic in Malaysia
Sadia Shakeel, Mohammad Azmi Ahmed Hassali, Atta Abbas Naqvi
Abstract
Coronavirus (CoV) is a family of viruses and could be divided into four major sub-groups, recognised as alpha, beta, gamma and delta. Human beings usually get sick when infected with human CoVs; 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1. These viruses are zoonotic as they may be transmitted between animals and humans (1). At times, CoVs that infect animals mutate into a new human CoV. The recent examples are Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) that had the symptoms of common cold, fever, malaise and in some cases, severe shortness of breath and pneumonia. Evidence indicates that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels, to human beings (2). Few other identified CoVs are present in animals but have not infected humans yet. Previously the novel coronavirus (nCoV) was an unknown strain that was not reported in humans (3). The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is not similar to any other CoVs that usually infect humans and become a source of mild sickness or common cold. A diagnostic finding with CoV 229E, NL63, OC43 or HKU1 is not similar to a COVID-19 diagnosis and patients with COVID-19 are treated differently as compared to those infected with common CoV diagnoses. The risk associated with outbreak is dependent on features of the virus such as its human transmission, contagiousness as well as the intensity of symptoms. It is further dependent on the therapeutic actions taken to prevent/reduce the intensity of disease, i.e. vaccine or medicines (4). Fever, shortness of breath, cough, pulmonary