Özet:

The 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a new human coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019. The epidemic began in China and other Asian countries and spread to Europe, Australia and North America. Currently, 41,771,932 cases have been in 211 countries, causing a total of 1,138,780 deaths. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the clinical syndrome associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection of which the clinical spectrum may vary from mild upper respiratory tract disease to severe interstitial pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Studies on infectious diseases are generally addressed within the context of factors forming the infection chain. In this study, basic epidemiological concepts, infectious agent of COVID-19, transmission routes, risk groups, the course in the world and in Turkey and what to do to break the chain of infection are discussed. Data were obtained from the official website of the Ministry of Health (http://covid19.saglik.gov.tr) and Our World in Data website (https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/). Based on the data obtained on the study date, 23 October 2020, the top 3 countries with the highest number of cases worldwide are the United States, India and Brazil. Turkey ranks 17th. In conclusion, the emergence of COVID-19 is a serious global public health problem. Considering that the development of the vaccine is a slow process and it will take up to a year before it becomes a component of public health interventions, the future of the epidemic may be stated to depend on the reduction of transmission.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Özet:

The 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a new human coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of December 2019. The epidemic started in China and other Asian countries and spread to Europe, Australia and North America. Currently, 41,771,932 cases have been reported in 211 countries, causing a total of 1,138,780 deaths. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the clinical syndrome associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection of which the clinical spectrum may vary from mild upper respiratory tract disease to severe interstitial pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Studies on infectious diseases are generally addressed within the context of factors forming the infection chain. In this study, basic epidemiologic concepts, infectious agent of COVID-19, transmission routes, risk groups, the course in the world and in Turkey and what to do to break the chain of infection are discussed. Data were obtained from the official web site of Ministry of Health (http://covid19.saglik.gov.tr) and Our World in Data website (https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/). Based on the data obtained on the study date, 23 October 2020, the top 3 countries with the highest number of cases worldwide are the United States, India and Brazil. Turkey ranks the 17th. In conclusion, the emergence of COVID-19 is a serious global public health problem. Considering that the vaccine development is a slow process and it will take up to one year before it becomes a component of public health interventions, the future of the epidemic may be stated to depend on the reduction of transmission.