The outbreak of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019- nCoV) is still recent, and new knowledge is being discovered daily about the novel virus as well as the disease it causes. The objective of this editorial is to update us on what is known to date about 2019-nCoV.
INTRODUCTION
In December 2019, the outbreak of a new disease began in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The causative agent of the new disease outbreak was identified as 2019 novel Coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV) and it was named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). On February 11, 2020, the WHO officially named the new disease – Coronavir us disease 2019 (COVID-19) 1,2. Coronaviruses are predominant among different species of animals, such as cats, camels, cattle and bats. However, on rare occasions, some types can be transferred to humans and subsequently spread among people 3. Some of the common human coronaviruses are HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-HKU1, which cause milder diseases, as well as other types, including Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), SARS-CoV and the new SARS-CoV-2, which causes more fatal diseases 4
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