What is the new virus?

The current outbreak of infections with a novel type of coronavirus has sparked global anxiety and concern that the virus might spread too far and too fast and cause dramatic harm before health officials find a way to stop it. But what are the realities of the new coronavirus outbreak? We investigate.

In December last year, reports started to emerge that a coronavirus that specialists had never before seen in humans had begun to spread among the population of Wuhan, a large city in the Chinese province of Hubei.

Since then, the virus has spread to other countries, both in and outside Asia, leading authorities to describe this as an outbreak. At the end of last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the situation to be a public health emergency… Read more.