Total amount of COVID-19 virus in world can be collected in shot glass, says mathematician

Exactly a year after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Wuhan, China, the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 has spread across the globe infecting over 55 million people and causing more than 1.3 million deaths. However, a mathematician has said that the total amount of the virus that is infecting humans in the world would fit into little more than a teaspoon or a shot glass. The total volume of the microscopic organism that has rocked the world since late 2019 is a  minuscule 8ml or 0.2 fluid ounces and the teaspoon holds 6ml of liquid. 

TV mathematician Matt Parker, who has previously come up with several assumptions about the figure, said that even the upper end of his estimates would fit inside a shot glass. In his podcast ‘A Problem Squared’, Parker said, “All the chaos in the world... is down to a teaspoon's worth of trouble.” He added, “A virus particle is very small, it's just the code to wreck other cells.” and the virus causing COVID-19 is a million times smaller than a human cell. 

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How did Parker calculate the figure?

As per reports, Parker used the approximate figure of 300,000 new COVID-19 cases every day and assumed that each one was infected for at least two weeks, he first derived the number of people who were currently carrying the highly-infectious virus. Then, after multiplying everything, he estimated that there are currently 3.3 million billion virus cells spread among the human population across the globe. Knowing the size of each strand of the virus comparable to the wavelength of light, they collectively amounted to very little space. 

Amid the grim circumstances, as the global race for the COVID-19 vaccine has intensified, Moderna Inc announced that its COVID-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective against the novel coronavirus based on preliminary data. The American pharmaceutical company heard its results on a call on November 16 along with the members of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board which is an independent panel analyzing the company’s clinical trial data. The analysis released by Moderna which has reported 94.5% efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine was based on results of more than 30,000 participants in the US. 

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