Introduction:

The disease called COVID-19 is a pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome 2). In Peru, patient zero or first case with COVID-19 was detected on March 6 and since then the virus has continued to spread. The national government fights against this disease on several fronts, but the health situation differs greatly from developed countries.

Objective:

To review the current state of the disease and analyze its possible impact on the Peruvian health system.

Methods:

A bibliographic search of various studies was carried out since the appearance of the disease (December 2019) in different databases (PUBMED, MEDLINE, PLOs, SciELO) and Google Scholar.

Results:

The virus is transmitted mainly by the respiratory route; the average incubation period is 14 days; most patients have mild disease or are asymptomatic but 5% of these will require hospitalization, some will even require intensive therapy with mechanical ventilation; the current treatment is basically symptomatic, though antibiotics, antivirals and antiparasitics have also been used.

Conclusions:

The quarantine with strict measures of isolation and social distancing is accurate given the Peruvian health reality and the imminent contagion of the population.

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