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Outbreak of a novel coronavirus

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 18, page 123 (2020)Cite this article

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Since mid-December 2019, several cases of a pneumonia-like disease (with symptoms including fever, difficulty in breathing, cough and invasive lesions on both lungs) of unknown cause have emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan (WHO). Chinese authorities made a preliminary determination that the causative agent is a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), and other respiratory pathogens have been ruled out as the cause (WHO). A consortium of researchers, government agencies and institutes released six sequences of the coronavirus associated with the outbreak in Wuhan on virological.org and on Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the new virus clusters with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-related coronavirus clade, and the virus has since been isolated.

So far ~400 confirmed infections with the new coronavirus as well as several deaths have been reported in China (Nature), although scientists at Imperial College in London estimated that the number of cases in Wuhan was likely to be closer to 1,700. In addition, the virus has spread to Thailand, Japan, South Korea and the United States, and additional cases in other countries are likely.

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  1. Nature Reviews Microbiology http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/

    Andrea Du Toit

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  1. Andrea Du Toit
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Correspondence to Andrea Du Toit.

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Du Toit, A. Outbreak of a novel coronavirus. Nat Rev Microbiol 18, 123 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-020-0332-0

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