COVID-19 | Encyclopedia MDPI

Summary

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, and the disease now affects nearly every country and region. Caused by SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 continues nearly 18 months later to present significant challenges to health systems and public health in both hemispheres, as well as the economies of every country. The morbidity and mortality of the infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been significant, and various waves of disease outbreaks initially overwhelmed many hospitals and clinics and continue to do so in many countries. This influences everyone, and public health countermeasures have been dramatic in terms of their impact on employment, social systems, and mental health. This entry collection aims to gather diverse fields about COVID-19, including in epidemiology, public health, medicine, genetics, systems biology, informatics, data science, engineering, sociology, anthropology, nursing, environmental studies, statistics, and psychology.

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Entries

Topic Review

Drone Applications Fighting COVID-19

The non-military use of drones is becoming more widespread, which the media is now increasingly reporting. Drone applications fighting Covid-19 can be divided into different types of groups: surveillance of an area with a visual camera, detection of fever-infected people with a thermal camera, communication with an on-board installed loudspeaker or QR code flag and three different logistic tasks such as transportation of essentials, health products and disinfectants.

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12 Jan 2022

Topic Review

Impact of COVID-19 on Young People's Mental Health

There is increasing evidence of the psychological impact of COVID-19 on various population groups, with concern particularly focused on young people’s mental health. Yet to date little research has explored the views of young people themselves on the impact of living through the pandemic on their mental health. Young people's discussions on social media have highlighted the complexities of this impact and how socially embedded it has been. Forging appropriate support for young people post-pandemic will necessitate looking beyond an individualised conceptualisation of their mental health that sets this apart from broader societal concerns. Instead, both research and practice need to take a systemic approach, recognising young people’s societal belonging and social contexts.

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13 Jan 2022

Topic Review

COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates

COVID-19 vaccines are indispensable, with the number of cases and mortality still rising, and currently no medicines are routinely available for reducing morbidity and mortality, apart from dexamethasone, although others are being trialed and launched.

546
13 Jan 2022

Topic Review

Tourism is one of the world’s largest and most revenue-generating industries, being an essential tool for economic growth in most developing countries, yet highly vulnerable to disruptive events such as crises and disasters. Between 2000 - 2020, the tourism industry has witnessed a range of health-related crises, with the outbreak of COVID-19 bringing the industry to a standstill.

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12 Jan 2022

Topic Review

Types of COVID-19 Vaccines

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly contagious virus that emerged at the end of 2019 and has caused an upper respiratory disease pandemic, currently known as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Vaccine clinical studies are developing promptly with the aim of obtaining vaccines that are effective in suppressing the spread of the virus; however, the development of viral mutations raises concerns about the decreasing effectiveness of the resulting vaccine, which also results in the need for more in-depth studies. There have been 330 vaccines developed, including 136 clinical developments and 194 pre-clinical developments.

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12 Jan 2022

Topic Review

Coronaviruses Specification Based on Biosensor Techniques

Life was once normal before the first announcement of COVID-19’s first case in Wuhan, China, and what was slowly spreading became an overnight worldwide pandemic. Ever since the virus spread at the end of 2019, it has been morphing and rapidly adapting to human nature changes which cause difficult conundrums in the efforts of fighting it.

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12 Jan 2022

Topic Review

Impact of Health Awareness on Dairy Purchase Behavior

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to a reduction in the overall consumption of dairy products in China. How to restore the consumption potential of dairy products and alleviate the serious impact on the dairy market in the post-epidemic period is an urgent problem that needs to be resolved. Based on the survey data of 1780 consumers in 31 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) of China, the Heckman two-stage model was used to empirically test the impact of consumer health awareness on dairy product purchase behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and to further analyze the differences in factors affecting dairy product purchase behavior with the restriction of consumer health awareness.

508
11 Jan 2022

Topic Review

NK Cells in Viral Infections

NK cells are usually defined as immune cells that belong to the innate immune response. They were described as cells capable of killing several tumour cell lines without previous antigen presentation. It was shown then that NK cells lack the TCR and BCR receptors capable of binding specific antigens, and consequently, it was assumed that these cells lack antigen recognition.

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12 Jan 2022

Topic Review

Respiratory Protection Devices

Respiratory protective devices (RPDs) play a crucial role in controlling infection, particularly for viruses like SARS-CoV-2 that have a high transmission rate, strong viability, multiple infection routes and mechanisms, and emerging new variants that could reduce the efficacy of existing vaccines.

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11 Jan 2022

Topic Review

Effect of Sanitizing Treatments on Respirator Filtration Performance

Disposable respirator masks with an accepted performance rating are seriously compromised from an exposure to saturated alcoholic vapours, can tolerate a one-off spray treatment with an alcoholic solution and retain their attested protection under the influence of alcoholic vapours from the use of hand sanitizer or spray sanitizer.

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10 Jan 2022

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