Stopping COVID-19 Epidemic

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A virus is a specific type of organism that may influence the rest of nature because it quickly reproduces itself. However, viruses use organisms of other domains as their material for life. For humanity, viruses are a frightening topic because many dramatically lethal pandemics, such as plague, cholera, and swine influenza, to name a few, happened in history. Nowadays, a new viral disease, COVID-19 from the family of coronaviruses, is getting incredibly dangerous. Many countries are trying to take all the possible measures like the introduction of quarantine and declaring the state of emergency, while researchers are developing vaccines or any other treatment which would help to inhibit the disaster. The paper investigates the current data on the latest findings regarding COVID-19. The virus has become a global issue and made scientists focus on the cure for the disease.

World Health Organization (WHO) is probably the most operative and authoritative resource of information on the new virus. The organization updates the current information on the spread statistics, suggests the optimal measures worldwide. R&D Blueprint, which is part of the WHO, aims to provide an adequate response to infectious outbreaks by stimulating R&D activities. For COVID-19, the Blueprint has been publishing the latest reports on vaccines, animal models, therapeutics, and diagnostics, as well as creating a coordinated global research roadmap (World Health Organization, 2020b). Thus, the WHO devotes all forces to the problem of overcoming the pandemic.

During an epidemical condition, it is of extreme importance to know what the priorities are for the specialists working on preventing and stopping the spread of the disease. The WHO identified four main directions of COVID-19 research, namely, virus nature, environmental research on the virus origin, epidemiological studies, and clinical management (World Health Organization, 2020a). The first regulation is devoted to the biological investigation of the virus characteristics and components, which should provide the necessary data for vaccine creation. The environmental research studies COVID-19 behavior in different conditions and how it transfers between different species in order to estimate the most optimal measures for the human population. The investigation of epidemiology tracks how the virus is controlled by the health systems all over the world, and, finally, clinical management summarizes the data to determine the clinical approach to COVID-19.

The research in possible candidates for vaccines and their testing keeps making advancement. There have been many reports on the candidates affecting COVID-19. For example, using engineered human organoid tissue research groups accelerate the testing of a new preparation (University of British Columbia, 2020). Nevertheless, the state of the art is still in the testing stage, and no particular drug has been approved yet (World Health Organization, 2020a). Vaccine production is a long process because it demands accomplishing four phases to get official licensure. The research roadmap mentioned that it was already necessary to prepare for phase 2b/phase 3, which means the process flows as it should do. Thus, the development of effective treatment is still ongoing and takes its time.

The vaccine can be inventory, which means it is a new kind of preparation, or it can be developed from existing vaccines. The researchers are trying both variants because it is unpredictable which one will be successful. For example, the spike proteins known to be effective from the outbreak of a similar coronavirus in 2003 are now being tested as a critical component of a vaccine (University of British Columbia, 2020). These proteins are supposed to block access to cells for coronaviruses. However, the trials are still needed to be completed to make reliable predictions about the drug.

Most people seem to take the issue seriously, and they are trying to learn the latest information about diseases. There are some significant questions society currently discusses in social media. For example, one can notice that some people argue that wearing masks is a necessity, while others claim that masks are useful for those who already have the virus. Another common discussion is that weather total isolation is more preferred than the isolation of cohorts. People often refer to the recommendation of authorities such as the WHO. However, according to the research roadmap (World Health Organization, 2020a), it is still unclear whether and how masks aids to protection, what kind of antiseptics are effective, and what quarantine activity is optimal. Therefore, many aspects of the urgent measures are still unclear, and some people are likely to be misinformed.

The topic of coronavirus is undoubtfully central to mass media. It is common that some reporters are trying to make a sensation and to capture attention, but this intention may cause the production of fake news, which may harm social stability. The current epidemiological situation has already affected society, and it is crucial to help people to cope with the situation without risking anybody’s life. Although some countries introduced measures against the spreading of unreliable information, informing about the recommendation and current situation is mentioned as a concern in the research roadmap (World Health Organization, 2020a). That is why it is vital to supervise that people get essential information and do not follow fake instructions.

Furthermore, the sharing of information about COVID-19 findings is still un-systematic. According to the research roadmap (World Health Organization, 2020a), one of the current operational gaps is “how to best disseminate findings, including principles of data sharing and accessibility” (p.36). Moreover, the principles of data sharing and accessibility are also under discussion in the WHO (World Health Organization, 2020a). The scientific community working on the issue is not as effectively united as it could be. Likely, some research groups cannot reach a particular specialist, which could be of help for the project. Probably, the large online community, numerous online sources, and tools of communication cause the researchers to spend much time on finding the entity they need, which also takes time and resources. For this reason, it would be more optimal if the specialists working with COVID-19 were provided with a specific communication tool.

To conclude, much effort has already been performed to stop the spreading of coronavirus. The WHO, along with R&B Blueprint, monitors the situation, publishes recommendations, and promotes research in the possible treatments of the disease. While this investigation is ongoing, it is crucial that people are aware of the necessary measures and are adequately informed about the situation. However, the absence of effective scientific communication and inaccurate informing of the population seems to be the drawback of the current state, although the problem is already recognized, and new guidelines are being developed. Thus, the world is focused on COVID-19 and is advancing the ways to overcome the pandemic.