The world of COVID was something new-begun in the last quarter of 2019 up until now-which drastically changed life. It unwove daily life, challenged health systems, and even shifted the global economy. Thus, the blog will give an opportunity to plunge into the beginnings of COVID-19, symptoms and transmission, worldwide response, vaccines, existing challenges, and the future of public health in the post-pandemic world.

Origin of COVID-19

the cause of COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. though the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China in the month of December 2019, the virus is believed to originate from bats and an animal, probably something sold alive at the Wuhan seafood market where it also sold living animals, which acted as a host to pass it on to man. the cases coupled with that market have erupted for weeks now, and it was soon very evident that the cases reflected human-to-human transmission cases.

COVID-19 cases find WHO discussing it as a public health emergency of International Concern on 30th January, 2020. on the 11th of March, 2020, the disease would be termed as a pandemic. Its infectious spread actually brought out this very idea of a homogenous world where the infectious diseases can easily cross the borders to other parts of the world.

Symptoms and Transmission

The diseases caused by COVID-19 are symptomatic. The symptom can be rather mild or rather risky. Some of them include:  

Fever 

Cough 

Shortness of breath 

Fatigue

 Muscle or body aches 

Loss of taste or smell 

Throat sore 

Congestion or runny nose

Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea

Both were mild and severe and of character, with all symptoms developing between 2-14 days after exposure. Most patients report that their diseases are mildest. In some cases, however, older adults and other people with chronic underlying health conditions will become seriously ill from COVID-19 that involves the lower lungs.

The most common route through which COVID-19 was communicated was droplets when an infected person coughed, sneezed, or just talked or excreted. Through such droplets, it contaminated the surfaces that the infected people by viruses had to move and touch their face mainly the mouth, nose, or eyes, then touching it further. Understanding the way the virus will communicate through which route is a good approach in handling public health control in this period.

Global Response to the Pandemic:

Efforts at Mitigation Fast all around the world sprouted efforts from governments and health institutions as COVID-19 began spreading all over. Among these are the following:

Public Health Measures

Public measurements include the following:

1. Social Distancing:

People have to be more distant from one another; with that, schools, businesses, and other public venues close down.

2. Face Masks:

The entire populace is made compulsorily wear face masks, so that droplets are not transferred through crowded crowds and confined areas.

3. Quarantine/Isolation:

Most of the people afflicted with COVID-19 or persons who have been exposed to another person who has been infected with COVID-19 would be kept in isolation or quarantine so that he may not spread more infection.

4. Travel Bans:

Most of the countries implemented this approach either partially or fully during the containment process by imposing travel restrictions within such countries.

Health System Challenges

The pandemic has been an emotional trigger to health systems worldwide. Hospital settings worldwide burned personal protective equipment, ventilators, and beds on the headcount of patients afflicted with grave illness. Working in such stress-inducing conditions for protracted hours, the frontline healthcare workers are developing some health issues.

Economical Impact

It brought on an enormous scale of economic impacts. Thousands of businesses, mainly hospitality and travel-related business ventures, were forced to shut their shop. The only word going around was layoff. In point of fact, to respond, many governments did not blink an eye before launching stimulus packages and manifold financial interventions for affected people and businesses, though the actual long-term economic impact of the pandemic is yet to be felt.

Vaccines Development

The most important scientific development would be the production of vaccines that affect COVID-19. As time passed and the world began scaring regarding pandemics, research and manufacturing of the above vaccines accelerated. In fact, it has been less than just some months since its discovery, and several candidates were entered into clinical trials. There are three types of vaccines.

1. mRNA Vaccines: 

The mRNA-based vaccines were off of two tracks that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna approach took. With this approach, there is a use of genetic material within the instructions for cells to create an innocuous piece of the spike protein poking out from the outside of SARS-CoV2-and that the immune system responds to.

2. Viral Vector-based vaccine:

Another category is the genetically engineered version by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca of another virus-not the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself-to carry genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

3. Inactivated virus-based vaccines: 

Sinovac and Sinopharm was manufacturing vaccines laced with an inactivated virus to prompt immunity.

In 2020, there existed a host of vaccines ready for emergency-use authorization, and they were allocated in each country on Earth. It was the biggest intervention undertaken so far to date to slow the ongoing transmission of COVID-19 with all its associated severe illness and death burden.

Vaccine Hesitancy

Resistance to the vaccine proved to be one of the great challenges in bringing about herd immunity even after the vaccine was available and vaccination became an option. Myths surrounding the health care system created attitudes of resistance through the several strata of society. Education on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and alleviation of specific concerns came under an important place for public health interventions.

Lurking problems:

The world has not yet put to paper what implications of COVID-19 are with works done in the vaccination, but the resultant problems at this point are as follows:

Variants of Interest/Concern

Indeed, the impacts of the Delta and Omicron variants addressed the core concerns about increased transmissibility and vaccine evasion. Thus, the variants do have some impact on the effectiveness of vaccines and the trend of the pandemic, so there should be continued research and intervention from public health.

 Long COVID:

Most people have a long-term illness following the bout of initial COVID-19;colloquially known as "long COVID." Examples include fatigue, cognitive impairment, and respiratory illness, rendering life less gratifying to live, at least in terms of effectiveness of work performance.

Global Disparities:

Equitable national access According to World Bank data, lower- and middle-income countries purchased almost all of their vaccines. Vaccine equity is understood to be the problem for most populations in low- and middle-income countries having a fair shot at accessing-and, in turn, being administered-the vaccines. The circumstances are such that even the most ambitious effort, like that of COVAX, had enormous gaps in its efforts toward global public health.

Future of Public Health:

Known necessity is that there will be strong public health systems and preparedness for future health challenges. Other lessons learnt are as follows:

1. Health Infrastructure Investment:

Improvement in the health facilities of all the countries is the biggest step towards good pandemic response and health.

2. Importance of International Cooperation:

The infectious diseases do not realize the borders. International cooperation on research, sharing of data and distributions of resources will also be very important.

3. Public Health Education:

improve health literacy and correct the myth will play a central role in reducing public response in case of future health threat.

4. Ongoing Research:

After this pandemic has passed, research on vaccines, treatments and long COVID needs to be continued so that we'll understand and have control over what happens after the pandemic has passed.

Conclusion

COVID-19 changed all of our lives, and this nature of the pandemic provided a widespread change in every dimension of life where an essential role was played by all the instruments-from vaccines to so far applied public health measures; however we know now we cannot just succumb and become complacent over challenges that are surfacing and portray us, so therefore we will build this healthier future post-Covid by mutual commitments toward public health, education, and international cooperation. That is learning for all our parts better equipped before some of the challenges we may face in the future a much, much broader platform for final revival stronger than ever in case of health emergencies later on.