1. What is COVID-19?
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. They can cause diseases ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). Some transmit easily from person to person while others do not. COVID-19 is a new disease that has not been previously identified in humans.
China determined that a novel coronavirus (referred to as COVID-19) is responsible for the outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan. Authorities in China and worldwide are conducting further investigations to better understand where the disease came from, how it is spread and the clinical severity of illness in humans.
2. What are the symptoms?
Those with COVID-19 may have little to no symptoms. You may not know you have symptoms of COVID-19 because they are similar to a cold or flu.
Symptoms may take up to 14 days to appear after exposure to COVID-19.
Symptoms have included:
- fever
- cough
- difficulty breathing
- pneumonia in both lungs
In severe cases, infection can lead to death.
3. What are the risks of getting COVID-19?
The public health risk associated with COVID-19 for Canada is low and generally low for Canadian travellers, but will vary depending on the destination.
Canada has no direct flights from Wuhan and the volume of travellers arriving indirectly from Wuhan is low. However, at this time, the Government of Canada recommends that Canadians
avoid non-essential travel to China and Iran due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
Canada also recommends that Canadians
avoid all travel to the province of Hubei due to very strict travel and movement restrictions imposed by Chinese authorities to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Current evidence suggests person-to-person spread is efficient when there is close contact.
Public health risk is continually reassessed as new information becomes available.
4 What is the treatment for COVID-19?
For now, there is no specific treatments for most people with COVID-19. Most people with common coronavirus illness will recover on their own. At this time, there is no vaccine for COVID-19. Your health care provider may recommend steps you can take to relieve symptoms.
Consult your health care provider as soon as possible if:
The sooner you consult your health care provider, the better your chances are for recovery.
5. What is the incubation period of COVID-19?
Current information indicates that symptoms may present themselves up to 14 days after exposure to COVID-19.
6. How can I protect myself from getting COVID-19?
You can stay healthy and prevent the spread of infections by:
- washing your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds;
- avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands;
- avoiding close contact with people who are sick;
- coughing or sneezing into your sleeve and not your hands; and
- staying home if you are sick to avoid spreading illness to others.
7 Should the general population in Canada wear masks to protect themselves from COVID-19?
If you are a healthy individual, the use of a mask is not necessary.
However, if you are experiencing symptoms of an illness that spreads through the air, wearing a mask can help prevent the spread of the infection to others. The mask acts as a barrier and helps stop the tiny droplets from spreading around you when you cough or sneeze. Your health provider may recommend you wear a mask while you are seeking or waiting for care. In this instance, masks are an appropriate part of infection prevention and control measures that are put in place so that people with an infectious respiratory illness do not transmit the infection to others.
If you are caring for a sick person or you are in direct contact with an ill person, wearing a mask can help protect you from catching COVID-19, but it will not fully eliminate the risk of illness.
When wearing a mask, make sure to:
- properly cover your mouth and nose
- avoid touching the mask once it's on your face
- properly discard the mask after each use
- wash your hands after removing the mask
It is not recommended that healthy people or people who
have not travelled to a COVID-19-affected area (e.g. Hubei Province and mainland China) wear masks. Wearing a mask when you are not ill and are not at high risk for developing symptoms may give a false sense of security. Masks can easily become contaminated and need to be changed frequently and fitted properly for them to provide adequate protection.
You can stay healthy and prevent the spread of infections by:
- washing your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
- avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands
- avoiding close contact with people who are sick
- coughing or sneezing into your sleeve and not your hands
- staying home if you are sick to avoid spreading illness to others
8. Can COVID-19 be transmitted when a person is not showing symptoms?
This question is under investigation at this time. Studies to answer this question are being conducted now.
While experts believe that spread from a person who is asymptomatic (not showing any symptoms) is possible, this is considered to be rare.
What we do know for certain is that COVID-19 is most often being spread through close contact with a person who is showing symptoms (symptomatic cases).
So based on the latest available data, the main driver of the COVID-19 outbreak is symptomatic cases.
That means the primary focus for containing the COVID-19 outbreak is to prevent exposure through direct and close contact.
The most effective way to control this type of spread is through good hygiene measures in community settings (handwashing, cough etiquette and staying home if sick) and strict infection prevention and control measures in health settings to prevent spread in hospital settings.
9. Is there a risk of contracting COVID-19 if I touch a surface that was potentially contaminated?
In general, coronaviruses have poor survivability on surfaces, and are generally thought to be spread by respiratory droplets left behind after someone coughs or sneezes.
For COVID-19, researchers are actively investigating to learn more about the ways that COVID-19 is transmitted.
In the meantime, the best way to prevent respiratory and other illnesses is to:
- avoid touching the eyes, nose and mouth;
- consistently use good hand hygiene measures, which include frequent handwashing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available;
- maintain good respiratory etiquette, such as covering your mouth and nose with your arm or sleeve when coughing and sneezing, disposing of any used tissues as soon as possible, and following with handwashing or use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers where soap and water are not available;
- regularly clean and disinfect surfaces that people touch frequently such as toilets, bedside tables, doorknobs, phones and television remotes with regular household cleaners or diluted bleach (1 part bleach to 9 parts water).
10. Can I get this virus from animals when travelling to other countries?
Although the current spread and growth of the COVID-19 outbreak is primarily associated with spread from person to person, experts agree that the virus likely originated from bats and likely passed through an intermediary animal source (currently unknown) in China before being transmitted to humans.
