Vaccination is crucial

Five years of coronavirus: what has changed?

As expected, corona has not disappeared from the earth again, even a good five years after the first confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in Austria.

(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

Five years ago, the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Austria. On February 25, 2020, the first SARS-CoV-2 cases were confirmed in the country. An Italian couple from Bergamo receive their positive test results in Innsbruck. The virus has not yet disappeared. 

The images from the city in northern Italy, where coffins are transported to other cities by truck in March because the crematoriums are overloaded, are etched in many people's minds. This marked the beginning of the devastating extent of the coronavirus pandemic, which still haunts the world today.

Fifth anniversary of the coronavirus
Lockdowns and other measures were introduced internationally in 2020 in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. The Austrian federal government imposes "exit restrictions" for the first time from March 16. Vaccinations with a novel mRNA vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer officially began in Austria and other EU countries on 27 December 2020.

According to subsequent analyses, there must have already been cases of the initially mysterious disease in China in November 2019, which was later given the name Covid-19. The first officially confirmed infections were recorded in the metropolis of Wuhan at the beginning of December. The rest of the world learned about the "viral lung disease of unknown cause" when the Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31 December.

When a number of infected people in China were already dying from the Huanan fish market in Wuhan, a large part of humanity had barely heard of the new lung disease. On January 10, 2020, the genome of the new virus is published; it is a SARS virus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Just three days later, the first test for the new virus is offered via the World Health Organization (WHO).

End of the pandemic after more than three years
On January 30, the WHO declares a "public health emergency of international concern" - i.e. a pandemic - which is not declared over until May 5, 2023. In Austria, an infection with SARS-CoV-2 will no longer be a notifiable disease from July 1, 2023. By then, 6.08 million infections will have been confirmed in this country and 22,500 deaths will be linked to the coronavirus.

On January 30, 2020, the WHO declares a pandemic, which is not declared over until May 5, 2023.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Prostock-studio - stock.adobe.com)

As expected, coronavirus has not disappeared from the earth again, even a good five years after the first confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in Austria. At the peak of the most recent wave last October, almost 1,000 Covid patients were hospitalized nationwide within a week. Around four to five percent of these ended up in intensive care units this season. With influenza and RSV, several waves are even putting a strain on hospitals, emphasized pulmonologist Arschang Valipour.

There were 979 hospital admissions due to severe respiratory illnesses diagnosed with Covid-19 in the 41st calendar week of the previous year, 38 of which were in intensive care. Including the weeks before and after, thousands ended up in hospital with coronavirus last autumn and this winter. 

Risk of severe progression and death reduced
"The healthcare system is no longer under acute strain," said the doctor working at the Floridsdorf Clinic in Vienna. However, such waves naturally have an impact. "With the number of cases in the fall, a not inconsiderable number of beds were occupied." Covid-19 has joined the already known respiratory diseases, "but it is an increase in clinical pictures that did not exist five years ago". 

It is still mainly older people who end up in hospital due to acute Covid-19 disease. The risk of ending up in hospital with secondary infections or with subsequent worsening of any underlying illnesses is also increased in the first 90 days after an infection.

What has changed since the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak five years ago, however, "is the likelihood of a severe infection", said Valipour. "The vast majority of infections do not lead to hospitalization." Vaccination plays a role here, although its protection in older people "decreases rapidly after three to four months". The mortality rate has also fallen significantly and is between one and three percent for those who have to be hospitalized, reported the pulmonary and intensive care physician.

Valipour advises that people who have an increased risk of severe cases due to their age or previous illnesses should still be vaccinated and take medication against Covid-19 in the event of infection. "From the age of 60, I would recommend it regardless of concomitant diseases," concludes the doctor.