key: cord-316757-p370gjjn authors: Kofi Ayittey, Foster; Dzuvor, Christian; Kormla Ayittey, Matthew; Bennita Chiwero, Nyasha; Habib, Ahmed title: Updates on Wuhan 2019 novel coronavirus epidemic date: 2020-02-10 journal: J Med Virol DOI: 10.1002/jmv.25695 sha: doc_id: 316757 cord_uid: p370gjjn What emerged in December 2019 as a cluster of respiratory ailments with inexplicable etiological findings in Wuhan has now claimed roughly 259 lives, sickened nearly 12 thousand more, and spread to at least 26 more nations including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. In Virus Taxonomy, coronaviruses belong to the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae. These are known to be a family of enveloped non-segmented positive-sense ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses belonging to the family Coronaviridae and the order Nidovirales. There are four known genera for coronaviruses, namely: alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-coronavirus. All of the four genera are believed to have a zoonotic origin and infect both animals and humans. Whereas the alpha and beta genera originate from bats, the gamma and delta genera are derived from avian and pig gene pools. [6] [7] [8] [9] Given the high occurrence of coronaviruses, the large genetic variety and recurrent recombination of their genomes, and increasing human-animal interface undertakings, new coronaviruses are likely to emerge sporadically in humans owing to periodic spillover events and common cross-species infections. This explains the human infections of novel coronaviruses, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in 2002, and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012. Once in humans, the virus has the likelihood to spread from human-to-human, mainly causing respiratory diseases. [10] [11] [12] In late December 2019, some local health facilities reported cases of patients with pneumonia of unknown causes that were epidemiologically related to seafood and wet animal wholesale According to a recent publication by Chan et al, 14 the disease has shown person-to-person or nosocomial transmission features, implying that it can easily pass on from one person-to-another. One of the authors, Dr. Yuen Kwok-Yung, describes the disease as "asymptomatic walking pneumonia" due to its ability to be trans- Both hospitals, named Huoshenshan and Leishenshan: meaning "Fire God Mountain" and "Thunder God Mountain respectively," are said to be able to accommodate 2500 beds collectively, after their completion on 5th February. 24 An image of the current state of the Huoshenshan Hospital is shown in Figure 2 . 25 A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. The Lancet Offline: 2019-nCoV outbreak-early lessons Global health concern stirred by emerging viral infections Outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan China: the mystery and the miracle Discovery of seven novel mammalian and avian coronaviruses in the genus deltacoronavirus supports bat coronaviruses as the gene source of alphacoronavirus and betacoronavirus and avian coronaviruses as the gene source of gammacoronavirus and deltacoronavirus Coronaviridae: the viruses and their replication Fields International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Coronavirus infections and immune responses Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. The Lancet Recent advances in the detection of respiratory virus infection in humans Emerging coronaviruses: genome structure, replication, and pathogenesis Chinese Researchers Reveal Draft Genome of Virus Implicated in Wuhan Pneumonia Outbreak A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-toperson transmission: a study of a family cluster. The Lancet Centre for Health Protection of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. CHP provides further information on cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan Updated understanding of the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Wuhan Nowcasting and forecasting the potential domestic and international spread of the 2019-nCoV outbreak originating in Wuhan, China: a modelling study. The Lancet The Reuters News Beijing Wikipedia. Novel coronavirus With Wuhan virus genetic code in hand, scientists begin work on a vaccine Updates on Wuhan 2019 novel coronavirus epidemic