The latest information about the novel
coronavirus identified in Wuhan, China,
and advice on how pharmacists can help
concerned patients and the public.
Open access article
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has made
this feature article free to access in order to
help healthcare professionals stay informed
about an issue of national importance.
To learn more about coronavirus, please
visit: https://www.rpharms.com/resources/
pharmacy-guides/wuhan-novel-coronavirus .
Source: Shutterstock.com
Measures to guard against the infection work under the
current assumption that SARS-CoV-2 is spread by
respiratory droplets, although face masks are unlikely to
prevent infection
A novel strain of coronavirus — SARS-
CoV-2 — was first detected in December
2019 in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei
province with a population of 11 million,
after an outbreak of pneumonia without an
obvious cause. The virus has now spread to
over 200 countries and territories across the
globe, and was characterised as a pandemic
by the World Health Organization (WHO)
on 11 March 2020 [1] , [2] .
As of 23 August 2020, there were 23,057,288
laboratory-confirmed cases of coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection globally,
with 800,906 reported deaths. The number
of cases and deaths outside of China
overtook those within the country on 16
March 2020 [3] .
CoV-2 — was first detected in December
2019 in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei
province with a population of 11 million,
after an outbreak of pneumonia without an
obvious cause.