Biomedical Journal

Biomedical Journal

Volume 43, Issue 4, August 2020, Pages 328-333
Biomedical Journal

Review Article
COVID-19: The first documented coronavirus pandemic in history

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bj.2020.04.007Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

The novel human coronavirus disease COVID-19 has become the fifth documented pandemic since the 1918 flu pandemic. COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China, and subsequently spread worldwide. The coronavirus was officially named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses based on phylogenetic analysis. SARS-CoV-2 is believed to be a spillover of an animal coronavirus and later adapted the ability of human-to-human transmission. Because the virus is highly contagious, it rapidly spreads and continuously evolves in the human population. In this review article, we discuss the basic properties, potential origin, and evolution of the novel human coronavirus. These factors may be critical for studies of pathogenicity, antiviral designs, and vaccine development against the virus.

Keywords

COVID-19
SARS-COV-2
Coronavirus
Pandemic

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Peer review under responsibility of Chang Gung University.

1

These authors contributed equally to this article.