Understanding the COVID-19 Virus, its symptoms and how to better protect your family against it.
What is the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Virus?
What are Coronaviruses and what is COVID-19?
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses causing illnesses ranging from the common cold to pneumonia (a severe lung infection). COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by a strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020 and has since spread globally.¹
Recognising the COVID-19 Symptoms
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), patients with confirmed COVID-19 infections have reported symptoms such as:
- Fever
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
- Runny nose
- Sore throat
- Loss of taste or smell.
The symptoms of COVID-19 may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure.²
How does COVID-19 spread?
Based on CDC³, current evidence suggests that COVID-19 most commonly spread from an infected person to others through:
- respiratory droplets expelled when coughing, sneezing, talking and singing.
- close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands
- touching an object or surface with the virus on it, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands
- rarely, fecal contamination
Protecting yourself and others
The Ministry of Health has urged members of public to remain vigilant and to adopt good personal hygiene practices.⁴ You can take the steps to slow and stop the spread:
- Stay at least 1 metre away from others, whenever possible.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a mask when around others.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitiser.
- Avoid crowded indoor spaces and ensure indoor spaces are properly ventilated by bringing in outdoor air as much as possible.
- Stay home and isolate from others when sick.
- Routinely clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
Does GK-GermKiller® kill COVID-19?
Yes! GK-GermKiller® GK Air™, GK-GermKiller® GK Surface™ and GK-GermKiller® GK Concentrate™ have alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride as an active ingredient which attacks the structure of the virus.
These GK-GermKiller® products have been tested against actual SARS-Cov-2 strain identified as “Isolate USA-WA1/2020” (1) The “Isolate USA-WA1/2020” strain was isolated from an oropharyngeal swab of a COVID-19 patient in the USA. To ensure the testing adhered to internationally-accepted protocols, the US EPA product performance test guideline ASTM E1053 (2)⁵ was implemented by a certified US laboratory.
In addition, the mentioned GK-GermKiller® products are on Singapore National Environment Agency’s (NEA) released NEA List of household products for Surface Disinfection of the COVID-19 Virus.
1 https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus
2 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/symptoms.html
3 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/about/transmission.html