Quiz: How much do you know about the coronavirus?

We are all depending on the development of a vaccine. Composite: The Guardian design team/Shutterstock/EPA/Getty Images

It has dominated global headlines for weeks, and you could be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information you’ve seen, heard and read about the coronavirus outbreak. Test your knowledge with our coronavirus quiz – and you may learn something along the way.

How much do you know about the coronavirus?

1. What is a virus?

   1. A microscopic, single-celled organism

   2. A sub-microscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism

   3. A multicellular organism with chlorophyll as its primary photosynthetic pigment

2. What is the official name of the virus as designated by the World Health Organization (WHO)?

   1. Sars-CoV-2

   2. Covid-19

   3. Wuhan flu

3. What does the 19 in Covid-19 stand for?

   1. It refers to the 19 molecules that make up the virus

   2. It is the 19th coronavirus identified since the WHO began naming them

   3. It is the year the virus was first encountered: 2019

4. About what percentage of infected people recover without needing hospital treatment according to the World Health Organisation website?

   1. 60%

   2. 70%

   3. 80%

   4. 90%

5. Which of these is NOT listed by the WHO as a symptom of coronavirus?

   1. Fever

   2. Dry cough

   3. Blurred vision

   4. Nasal congestion

6. What is more effective at removing the coronavirus from your hands

   1. Alcohol-based hand sanitiser

   2. Soap and water

7. How big is the coronavirus?

   1. 8 billionths of a metre in diameter

   2. 80 billionths of a metre in diameter

   3. 800 billionths of a metre in diameter

8. What does the virus attach itself to when it enters the human body?

   1. Antigens

   2. Red blood cells

   3. Ace-2 receptors in the lining of the airways

9. The virus replicates by inserting its RNA into a human cell’s own replication machinery. It makes multiple copies of itself, and these burst out of the cell, causing the infection to spread. What does RNA stand for?

   1. Ribonucleic acid

   2. Reductone nano articulate

   3. Reproducing nucleic agent

10. How long can the virus survive on plastic and stainless steel surfaces, according to studies?

    1. 72 hours or more

    2. 24 to 60 hours

    3. 4 to 12 hours

11. This is not the first widespread coronavirus encountered by humans. But which of these is NOT a type of coronavirus?

    1. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars)

    2. Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers)

    3. Ebola

12. Governments around the world have been monitoring the 'R number' to determine when to ease lockdown restrictions. What is the R number?

    1. The percentage of confirmed coronavirus cases that lead to death

    2. The percentage of the population that has been tested for the coronavirus

    3. The average number of people to whom one infected person will pass on the virus

13. Which organ in the body does this coronavirus primarily attack?

    1. Lungs

    2. Liver

    3. Heart

14. Does the UK's National Health Service say you can use ibuprofen as a treatment of the symptoms of Covid-19?

    1. Yes

    2. No

Solutions

1:B - There are millions of different viruses. Coronaviruses are a large family of them which may cause illness in animals or humans. , 2:A - The virus itself is called Sars-CoV-2. The disease it causes in humans is named Covid-19. WHO guidelines advise against naming diseases after geographical regions or specific animals, to avoid stigmatisation. This is why it was controversial when some world leaders insisted on referring to Covid-19 as the 'Chinese virus' or 'Wuhan flu' after the city where it was first encountered, 3:C - The 19 is a designation of when the virus was identified, 4:C - The WHO website states: 'Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing hospital treatment. Around 1 out of every 5 people who gets Covid-19 becomes seriously ill'. However, this number can, of course, only be calculated using the information that we have on the number of people who have tested positive, so it may not be accurate if there are large numbers of infected but untested people in the population., 5:C - Blurred vision is not listed by the WHO as a symptom. However, it does appear that the coronavirus can affect the human senses - many people who have had the illness have reported losing their sense of taste and/or smell., 6:B - Soap loosens the lipids in the virus membrane, causing its structure to collapse and making the virus inactive. Alcohol-based hand sanitiser is still useful for removing the virus if soap and warm water is unavailable, but it is not as effective, 7:B - That's tiny, to say the least. , 8:C - When virus-ridden particles are inhaled they come into contact with cells lining the throat and larynx. These cells have large numbers of receptors – known as Ace-2 receptors – on their surfaces and the virus locks on to these, 9:A - RNA is found in nature as a single strand folded on to itself, rather than a paired double strand like DNA, 10:A - Yes, it has been detected on a surface up to three days after initial contamination according to one study - and as long as seven days according to another. That's why it is important to keep washing your hands, and to avoid touching your face as much as possible, 11:C - Correct. Ebola is not caused by a type of coronavirus. Sars is a pneumonia-like coronavirus that first emerged in 2002. Eight months later it had resulted in 8,098 cases and 774 deaths in 26 countries. Mers developed in 2012 and has so far caused around 2,500 cases and more than 800 deaths., 12:C - The R number is the effective reproduction number. An R number above one means that for every person with the virus, on average more than one other person will catch it. This leads to runaway growth of the virus within the population. Governments want an R number of less than one, which means some infected people are not passing on the virus, and this will slow and reduce its spread., 13:A - The infection comes in via the airways and spreads to the lungs. The more dangerous symptoms are caused when dead cells and antibodies flood the lungs with fluid and debris while trying to fight off the virus. This drastically reduces the amount of oxygen that can be supplied to the rest of the body. However, there is increasing evidence of the virus causing damage to other organs, particularly the heart, 14:A - It does now. The advice has changed. In the UK, the NHS says: 'The Commission on Human Medicines has now confirmed there is no clear evidence that using ibuprofen to treat symptoms such as a high temperature makes coronavirus worse. You can take paracetamol or ibuprofen to treat symptoms of coronavirus. Try paracetamol first if you can, as it has fewer side effects than ibuprofen and is the safer choice for most people.'

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Excellent effort

2. 0 and above.

   Could do better

3. 11 and above.

   Great result - you've clearly been paying attention

• There are no prizes – the quiz is just a different way to present some of the facts from our explanatory content in a way that might surprise you or refresh your memory. If you think there is a major error in one of the questions or answers, please email martin.belam@theguardian.com. Sources used for this quiz include the NHS, the WHO website, and the Guardian’s own reporting.