IJCS | Volume 33, Nº3, May / June 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36660/ijcs.20200057 The world is facing a new challenge, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a betacoronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), phylogenetically identical to the SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus) and the MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) responsible for innumerable deaths in China in 2003 and in the Middle East in 2012, respectively. On March 11, 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak was characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). 1 Twenty-three days after that announcement, the cases reported reached 1,056,777 in 182 countries, with 55,781 deaths, most of which occurring in Italy, Spain, France, China and Iran. So far, Brazil has registered 8,195 cases and 335 deaths, while Portugal, 9,886 cases and 246 deaths, figures that have increased steeply since the beginning of the pandemic. 2 In the face of this exponential increase, mainly in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states, multiple safeguarding measures to prevent further spread of the virus, such as school dismissal, event cancellations, reduced bank hours, closure of commerce, except for essential sectors, recommendation for home confinement, and cancellation of public transportation between municipalities and states, have been taken in Brazil, as well as in Portugal and other countries. In the absence of a vaccine and specific therapy, that is actually the only way to restrain viral spread and to prevent the health system overload, which might lead to its collapse, as seen, for example, in Italy and Spain. Person-to-person spread via respiratory droplets disseminated during sneezing, coughing and talking, as well as transmission through contact with contaminated surfaces justifies thosemeasures. 3 The PCR assay for viral RNAdetection on respiratory tract samples has been used for the laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19; moreover, wide-scale testing has been adopted to contain the pandemic in other countries. 3 Other types of tests are being developed to assess the population acquired immunity. These tests identify individuals who have developed immunity to the virus, and who can therefore safely return to their usual activities. This will be essential in the second phase of the pandemic. Analyses by the Imperial College with projections from the COVID-19 cases have estimated, if no action is taken, 7 billion infections and 40 million deaths worldwide in 2020. Furthermore, they have reported that mitigation strategies focused on protection could cut that burden in half, saving 20 million lives, but not without overloading healthcare services, a situation that might be evenmore severe in lower income settings. 4 This scenario should be avoided at any cost by implementing strict measures that limit the movement of people, as well as social distancing or even isolation. It is worth noting that underreporting, undertesting and delayed confirmatory test results might jeopardize the statistics of any country that does not adopt a strict policy for test performance, as recommended by the WHO. A study conducted in China with 72,314 patients with COVID-19 (44,672 laboratory-confirmed cases, 16,186 suspected cases, and 10,567 clinically diagnosed cases) has reported mild clinical severity in 81.4% of the sample, severe clinical severity in 13.9%, and critical clinical severity in 4.7%. 3 The most common symptoms were fever, cough, dyspnea, myalgia, fatigue, and diarrhea. 3,5 Other signals and symptoms have been reported, such as sore throat, chest pain, mental confusion, and lethargy. 199 EDITORIAL International Journal of Cardiovascular Sciences. 2020; 33(3):199-202 Mailing Address: Gláucia Maria Moraes de Oliveira Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – R. Prof. Rodolpho P. Rocco, 255 – Prédio do HU 8º andar – sala 6, UFRJ. Postal Code: 21941-913, Cidade Universitária, RJ – Brazil. E-mail: glauciam@cardiol.br , glauciamoraesoliveira@gmail.com Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19); SevereAcute Respiratory Syndrome; Dyspnea; Risk Factors; Fever; Mortality; Pandemics; Cardiovascular Diseases/complications. Keywords COVID-19: A Matter Close to the Heart Gláucia Maria Moraes de Oliveira 1 a nd Fausto J. Pinto 2 Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), 1 Rio de Janeiro, RJ – Brazil CCUL, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2 Lisboa - Portugal