A doctor diagnosed with coronavirus has been sharing his daily symptoms on Twitter.
According to the World Health Organisation, the novel coronavirus is characterized by fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. However, the day to day reality of what it's like is not widely known, but that won't be the case for much longer thanks to social media users.
These are the symptoms of coronavirus:The doctor who is documenting his experience is Dr. Yale Tung Chen. Per the New York Post, he is an emergency physician who contracted COVID-19 while treating patients at Hospital Universitario La Paz in Madrid, Spain.
Chen, 35, began his coronavirus documentation on Twitter on March 9, writing: "Day 1 after #COVID diagnosis. Sore throat, headache (strong!), Dry cough but not shortness of breath. No lung US abnormalities. Will keep a #POCUS track of my lungs. #coronavirus"
This was followed up the next day with the revelation that the pain he was experiencing in his throat had lessened. However, he began to experience abnormalities in his lungs.
As the tweets demonstrate, Chen is also sharing daily ultrasounds of his lungs.
"Day 2 after #COVID diagnosis," Chen wrote next. "Less sore throat, cough & headache (thank God!), still no shortness of breath or pleuritic chest pain. #POCUS update: small bilateral pleural effusion, thickened pleural line & basal b-lines (plaps)."
In case this tweet makes no sense to you, per WebMD, this means he has fluid in his lungs. However, although this was the case, Chen listened to his chest with a stethoscope, and what he heard was normal.
"Day 3 after #COVID diagnosis. No sore throat/headache," he continued. "Yesterday was cough day, still no shortness of breath/chest pain. Diarrhea started, lucky cough got better. #POCUS update: similar effusion, seems less thickened pleural line + no b-lines (PLAPS). #mycoviddiary"
Chen's symptoms of the coronavirus are mild, and in an interview with NBC News, he said: "It meant the whole world to me to receive support from people all around the world."
Today, he updated his followers on his fourth day of symptoms writing: "Day 4 after #COVID diagnosis. More cough & tiredness (very badly), still no dyspnea/chest pain. #POCUS update: Right side on resolution, Left side a more thickened pleural line + 2 subpleural consolidations. #mycoviddiary"
In a report from the World Health Organization yesterday, they declared that the COVID-19 outbreak is now being officially recognized as a pandemic:
"WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.
"We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.
"Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death."
As of yesterday's report, there have now been more than 118,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives.