1. What is coronavirus (Covid-19)?

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause disease in animals and can be transmitted to humans. They can range from the common cold to acute respiratory forms
Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a new strain of coronavirus that affects your lungs and airways
The current epidemic is caused by this speciﬁc coronavirus, COVID-19 that emerged in China in December 2019
COVID-19 is closely related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) which swept around the world in 2002 to 2003. That virus infected around 8,000 people and killed
about 800 but it soon ran itself out, largely because most of those infected were seriously ill so it was easier to control
Another coronavirus is MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, cases of which have been occurring sporadically since it ﬁrst emerged in 2012.There have been around 2,500 cases and nearly 900 deaths
COVID-19 is different to the previously mentioned coronaviruses in that the spectrum of disease is broad, with around 80% of cases leading to a mild infection. There may also be many people carrying the disease and displaying no symptoms, making it even harder to control
To date we have seen over 8 million cases of COVID-19 infection worldwide, over 450,000 deaths but over 4.5 million people have recovered
So far, around 20% of COVID-19 cases have been classed as ‘severe’ and the current death rate varies between 0.7% and 3.4% depending on the location and, crucially, access to good hospital care
The new coronavirus can be spread from person to person. It is diagnosed with a laboratory test
There is no coronavirus vaccine yet, though several trials are underway worldwide