Definitions

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 discovered in Wuhan, China.

Description

In December 2019, the novel coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, China. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan.

The outbreak was first reported on 31 Dec. 2019, and came to wide international attention in January 2020. In February 2020, WHO named the disease caused by the virus “coronavirus disease 2019,” which is abbreviated as COVID-19. On 11 March 2020, WHO declared that COVID-19 could be characterized as a pandemic and said it was the first time that a pandemic has been sparked by a coronavirus.