Cough, fever: these are the first signs of the disease.
If the coronavirus can infect individuals without triggering symptoms or inducing a simple fever, it can, conversely, involve respiratory complications such as pneumonia in immunocompromised people and cause the death of the infected person.
The first symptoms of the disease appear after an incubation period which can be variable. This delay was estimated on average at 5 days, with extremes of 2 to 14 days. However, longer incubation periods have been observed since.
Symptoms develop gradually and are similar to mild influenza-like illness. The disease can start with unspecific symptoms like a simple cold with sore throat, headache, body aches and fatigue. Then, the most common symptoms of the virus may appear, namely fever and a dry cough. It is at this stage that a diagnosis can be made to differentiate it from the seasonal flu.
According to the first descriptive studies from China, it is generally at the end of the first week that the disease can lead to a lung infection with signs of breathing difficulties and a feeling of shortness of breath. These lung abnormalities are detectable radiologically and almost always show pneumonia. Severe cases then develop into respiratory distress which requires intensive care (oxygen therapy, assisted ventilation, etc.).
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