Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

The present outbreak of the novel coronavirus initially called as “2019 novel coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV” by the World Health Organization (WHO), is also known as “Wuhan coronavirus” or “Wuhan pneumonia”, as it started in the Wuhan city of China in early December of 2019. This new coronavirus-associated acute respiratory deadly disease is now officially named as Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) by the WHO. From China, this epidemic has now spread to all over the world. On 11 March 2020, the WHO recognised COVID-19 as a pandemic. A pandemic refers to a disease that has spread to several countries, continents, if not worldwide. While the information available on this newly identified virus is limited and evolving, here is a quick run-down of what has been figured out so far.