What Is Coronavirus (COVID-19)?

Coronavirusesare a group of relatedvirusesthat cause diseases inmammalsandbirds. In humans, coronaviruses causerespiratory tract infectionsthat can be mild, such as some cases of thecommon cold(among other possible causes, predominantlyrhinoviruses), and others that can be lethal, such asSARS,MERS, andCOVID-19. Symptoms in other species vary: in chickens, they cause anupper respiratory tract disease, while in cows and pigs they causediarrhea. There are yet to bevaccinesorantiviral drugsto prevent or treat human coronavirus infections

In December 2019, a pneumonia outbreak was reported inWuhan,China.[60]On 31 December 2019, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of coronavirus,[61]which was given the interim name 2019-nCoV by theWorld Health Organization (WHO),[62][63][64]later renamedSARS-CoV-2by theInternational Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Some researchers have suggested theHuanan Seafood Wholesale Marketmay not be the original source of viral transmission to humans.[65

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What Is Coronavirus (COVID-19)? The World Health Organization declared the new #Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak a global health emergency in January 2020. Experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine are closely monitoring the spread of the virus and offering useful information on what the disease is and how to help prevent transmission