- What is the new virus? SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that target and affect mammals’ respiratory systems. According to their specific characteristics, there are four main ranks, or genera, of coronavirus: alpha, beta, delta, and gamma.
Most of these only affect animals, but a few can also pass to humans. Those that are transmissible to humans belong to only two of these genera: alpha and beta.
Only two coronaviruses have previously caused global outbreaks. The first of these was the SARS coronavirus — responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) — which started spreading in 2002, also in China.
The SARS virus epidemic primarily affected the populations of mainland China and Hong Kong, and it died off in 2003.
The other was the MERS coronavirus — responsible for Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) — which emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The virus has affected at least 2,494 people since then.
- Where did the virus originate? When humans contract a coronavirus, it typically happens due to contact with an infected animal.
Some of the most common carriers are bats, though they do not typically transmit coronaviruses directly to humans. Instead, the transmission might occur via an intermediary animal, which will usually, though not always, be a domestic one.
The SARS coronavirus spread to humans via civet cats, while the MERS virus spread via dromedaries. However, it can be difficult to determine the animal from which a coronavirus starts spreading among humans.
In the case of the new coronavirus, initial reports from China tied the outbreak to a seafood market in central Wuhan. As a result, local authorities closed down the market on January 1, 2020.
However, later assessments have suggested that this market was unlikely to be the single source of the coronavirus outbreak, as some people with the virus early on had no connection with it.
Specialists have not yet been able to determine the true source of the virus or even confirm whether there was a single original reservoir.
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