Turkiye Klinikleri J Health Sci., vol.6, no.1, pp.120-127, 2020 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
Coronaviruses are single-chain, zoonotic RNA viruses. The coronavirus, which previously appeared in 2003, was called SARS-CoV because it causes respiratory symptoms. It spread to many countries, infected more than 8,000 people and caused 774 deaths. The coronavirus, which appeared nine years later in the Middle East and is known to be transmitted to people from camels, has been called MERS-CoV. The beta-coronavirus that appeared in China in March 2019 is called Covid-19. Fatality rate of the virus, which causes the death of thousands of people worldwide, is 2%. It is known that Covid-19 infection progresses more severely, especially in elderly individuals and people with chronic disease. It can cause severe respiratory infection, respiratory failure, septic shock and multiple organ failure in humans. While most of the individuals infected with this virus have had mild or uncomplicated disease, approximately 14% need hospitalization and oxygen support, and 5% need critical care in the intensive care unit. Guidelines have been published to reduce the transmission of infection between patients and healthcare workers during the treatment process in health institutions. These guides include the use of personal protective equipment for healthcare personel and the rules that they must follow when ensuring the isolation of patients. İn addition to these, since the definitive therapy of the emerging new generation virus is not yet known, treatment algorithms have been published for health institutions. İnvitation were made for treatment development studies worldwide and researches were supported. In addition, preventions to be followed among the public have been determined to reduce the spread of the infection in the society and some legal arrangements have been made across the country. In this article, general information about the new generation coronavirus, treatment of the disease and the roles of the nurse in this process are given.