Som by British expert reveals that ‘just a few bites’ of virus particles are driving the global coronavirus pandemic.
All the COVID-causing virus currently circulating in the world could easily fit into one Coke can, according to a calculation by a British mathematician whose sum shows how much havoc is caused by tiny viral particles.
Using global numbers of new pandemic disease infections, coupled with viral load estimates, mathematician Kit Yates of Bath University concluded that there were nearly two quintillion – or two billion billion – particles of the novel coronavirus, or SARS. CoV2, in the world at any time.
Yates describes the steps in his calculations in an article published on The Conversation news website, saying he used the diameter of SARS-CoV-2 – averaging about 100 nanometers, or 100 billionths of a meter – and then the volume conceived. of the spherical virus.
The total volume of SARS-CoV-2 in the world could fit in a can of cola. Https://t.co/T6KbBrDi1z
Animation by @VickiGSP pic.twitter.com/ZQio5Colzq
– Kit Yates (@Kit_Yates_Maths) February 10, 2021
Even considering the coronavirus’ excellent spike proteins and the fact that the spherical particles leave holes when stacked on top of each other, the total is still less than in a single 330 milliliter (11.16 ounce) can coke, he said.
“It is amazing to consider that all the troubles, dislocation, hardship and loss of life that have resulted in the past year could be just a few bites of what would undoubtedly be the worst drink in history,” Yates said in his article .
According to data from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, more than 2.34 million people have died of COVID-19 to date, and nearly 107 million confirmed cases worldwide.