About COVID-19

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most people who get sick with COVID-19 can manage their symptoms at home and get better without special treatment. However, some people can get very sick and need medical attention.

Learn more about COVID-19.

Symptoms

COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that affects the lungs and airways. In some cases, it can cause problems with other organs or other parts of the body. The symptoms are not the same for everyone and could depend on your age and the COVID-19 variant. Symptoms can include:

• fever or chills
• runny nose
• sneezing
• sore throat
• cough that is new or getting worse
• shortness of breath or trouble breathing
• headache
• abdominal (belly) pain
• feeling more tired than usual or having no energy at all
• muscle or body aches
• throwing up (vomiting) or diarrhea (loose stool)
• loss of sense of smell or taste
• feeling unwell

Learn what to do and how to care for yourself if you have symptoms of a respiratory illness.

Treatment

Learn about the treatments for COVID-19.

Recovering from COVID-19

Recovering from COVID-19 is different for everyone, no matter your age, your health before you had COVID-19, or how sick you were with the virus.

Most people feel better in a few weeks. But some people have physical symptoms and mental health concerns that last for weeks or months after they no longer have COVID-19.

Learn more about long COVID and get information to help you recover.

Get the vaccine

The best thing you can do to protect yourself and your community is to get immunized with a COVID-19 vaccine. It’s the best protection against COVID-19 and the safest and most effective way to protect against getting very sick.

COVID-19 vaccines are very effective at preventing people from getting infected and getting very sick. Everyone in Alberta who is ages 6 months and older is recommended to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Learn about the COVID-19 vaccines