I didn’t want to write another post on Covid-19. But here I am doing just that. The fact is it’s a little difficult to ignore or delete all things Covid-19 related. It’s everywhere. In my daily, personal, physical, mental and virtual life. I wake up to it and go to sleep with it. I can’t remember anything being so omnipresent and oppressive. And, global.

In my neck of the woods, the Movement Control Order or MCO 3.0 or lockdown that was extended to June 28 from June 15, will be extended once more. The number of positive cases is still very high. Not declining but hovering between 4,000 to 5,000. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) are in place. Vaccinations are being ramped up. A four-phased National Recovery Plan has been announced. All aimed at realizing a certain level of economic and social normalcy before end 2020.  Will it happen? Hopefully, yes. Realistically, I don’t know. Malaysia has a way to go before herd immunity is achieved.

In the interim, I decided to liven the Groundhog Day that my life has morphed into by re-researching and re-reading about the virus. Yes – liven, life, virus. All in one sentence. That’s what happens when daily life is on the same recurring loop. To be honest, it wasn’t all bad. I revisited some old news, and learnt some new and interesting information about public enemy number 1 – Covid-19.

One. What does COVID-19 stand for ? It’s a combination of the words ‘corona’ or CO which means crown in Latin, ‘virus’ or VI, ‘disease’ or D and ‘19’ refers to the year 2019 (not the 19^th iteration), when the disease was first detected in Wuhan, China. Coronavirus is the generic name given to the spiky-crown-like virus. The specific virus that causes Covid-19 is the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 or SARS‑CoV‑2. To reiterate, Covid-19 is the disease. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes Covid-19 [1]. The first time I saw the magnified version of the virus, it reminded me of a durian. Besides COVID-19, the other serious coronavirus infections are SARS and MERS or the Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome[2].

Two. The emergence of variants that are more transmissible and virulent, and cluster causing in multiple countries compared with the original SARS-CoV-2. I’ve read about these variants, but didn’t realise the numbers and categories currently present.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) has two categories, namely Variants of Concern (VOC) and Variants of Interest (VOI). VOC includes Alpha (UK), Beta (South Africa), Gamma (Brazil) and Delta (India).  While VOI covers Epsilon (US), Zeta (Brazil), Eta (multiple countries), Theta (Philippines), Iota (US), Kappa (India) and Lambda (Peru.) The bracket refers to the countries with the earliest documented samples[3]. Yikes.

Three. How Covid-19 spreads is worth repeating. It’s primarily through close contact, and respiratory droplets or aerosol of an infected person. This is when he/she breathes, speaks, sneezes or coughs. So, it’s essential to wear a good mask and keep away, at least 1 metre, from people. Why, because there is no way of knowing who might or might not have the disease. Also, via contaminated surfaces.  Up to 24 hours on cardboard and 2 to 3 days on plastic and stainless steel. It’s very important to sanitize and wash hands with soap and water after touching all stuff – door handles, lift buttons, shipping boxes and plastic bags/containers, and shopping.

Four. 5G mobile networks do not spread Covid-19. Neither do houseflies and mosquito bites. Eating garlic, adding pepper to soup and meals, and antibiotics cannot prevent or cure Covid-19[4]. Unfortunately, texts containing information like these get circulated on WhatsApp chat groups.

Five. I missed this amusing speculation that went viral early last year. Apparently, Disney fans drew a connection between the animated film Tangled and Covid-19. Briefly, Princess Rapunzel, the heroine, was kidnapped for her magical golden hair, from the Kingdom of Corona (hmm…) by Mother Gothel. This baddie locked Rapunzel in a tower – akin to a quarantine – isolated from people and the outside world[5].

Six. An unfortunate coincidence of a pandemic causing deadly disease and the name of a product. Coronavirus and the Mexican Corona Beer. “… the link to Corona Beer, whose logo is also a crown, is clearly coincidental, but is nevertheless present. Google Trends data showed the association of the coronavirus disease to the beer in the minds of the public by the growth in internet search numbers for ‘corona beer virus’, ‘beer virus’ and ‘beer coronavirus’[6].” My husband used to have Corona Beer at dinner back when eating-out was still allowed. Admittedly, it felt odd asking for ‘Corona.’

There are both useful as well as cleverly crafted misleading information about Covid-19 on the net and social media. I don’t understand the motivation for making up false news and stories. Never mind. My revisit was useful as it allowed me to remind and update myself about this all-encompassing virus.