On 31 December 2019, World Health Organisation was alerted to several cases of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China.
On 7 January 2020, Chinese authorities confirmed that they had identified a new virus ( 2019 Novel Coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV ). The new virus is a coronavirus, which is a family of viruses that include the common cold, and viruses such as SARS and MERS.
This new virus was temporarily named “2019-nCoV.” As of 21 January 2020, confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV have been reported from China, Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea and USA.
What is 2019 Novel Coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV ?
- 2019 Novel Coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, is a new respiratory virus first identified in Wuhan, Hebei Province, China. Current symptoms reported for patients with 2019-nCoV have included mild to severe respiratory illness with fever1, cough, and difficulty breathing.
- Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing illness in people and others that circulate among animals, including camels, cats and bats.
- Early on, many of the patients in the outbreak in Wuhan, China reportedly had some link to a large seafood and animal market, suggesting the virus likely emerged from an animal source. Analysis of the genetic tree of this virus is ongoing to know the specific source of the virus. SARS, another coronavirus that emerged to infect people, came from civit cats, while MERS, another coronavirus that emerged to infect people, came from camels.
- This 2019-nCoV probably originally emerged from an animal source but now seems to be spreading from person-to-person.
- Some viruses are highly contagious (like measles), while other viruses are less so.
- It’s not clear yet how easily 2019-nCoV spreads from person-to-person. When person-to-person spread has occurred with MERS and SARS, it is thought to have happened mainly via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how influenza and other respiratory pathogens spread. Spread of MERS and SARS between people has generally occurred between close contacts. (Source: WHO)
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