An outbreak of COVID-19: what we know so far — March 8th, 2020

Facts about the coronavirus pandemic we should all be aware of.

What seemed like an innocent live animal market, became the source of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (or SARS-CoV2). The virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This live animal market in Wuhan, in central China, took place in December 2019 [1]. Since then, more than 110.000 people have been infected and over 4.000 people have died (numbers from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/). Coronaviruses can make both animals and humans ill after infection and can cause the common cold. Previous versions of the coronavirus have also been big news, such as SARS in 2002–2003 and the coronavirus that emerged in 2012 in the Middle East.

A compliment should be given to Chinese authorities and researchers, who were very quick in sequencing the viral genomic material and shared these sequences.

After the outbreak started in December 2019, the Chinese government started the lockdown of Wuhan on 23 January 2020. This lockdown is still going on when today and I hope for the people in Wuhan this nightmare is over quickly. Even though the Chinese authorities created the nightmare that the residents of Wuhan (who are still there), a compliment should be given to Chinese authorities and researchers, who were…