Abstract

An unprecedented outbreak of pneumonia of unknown aetiology in Wuhan City, Hubei province in China emerged in December 2019. A novel coronavirus was identified as the causative agent and was subsequently termed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Considered a relative of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), COVID-19 is caused by a betacoronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 that affects the lower respiratory tract and manifests as pneumonia in humans. Despite rigorous global containment and quarantine efforts, the incidence of COVID-19 continues to rise, with 90,870 laboratory-confirmed cases and over 3,000 deaths worldwide. In response to this global outbreak, we summarise the current state of knowledge surrounding COVID-19.

Keywords

OutbreakMedicineCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)BetacoronavirusPneumoniaQuarantineMiddle East respiratory syndromeCoronavirusSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)Incidence (geometry)2019-20 coronavirus outbreakMiddle East respiratory syndrome coronavirusGlobal healthVirologyPandemicPublic healthEnvironmental healthInfectious disease (medical specialty)DiseasePathologyInternal medicine

MeSH Terms

BetacoronavirusCOVID-19ChinaCivil DefenseCoronavirusCoronavirus InfectionsDisease OutbreaksGlobal HealthHumansPandemicsPneumoniaViralSARS-CoV-2Severe Acute Respiratory SyndromeWorld Health Organization

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Publication Info

Year
2020
Type
review
Volume
76
Pages
71-76
Citations
6231
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Catrin Sohrabi, Zaid Alsafi, Niamh O’Neill et al. (2020). World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). International Journal of Surgery , 76 , 71-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.02.034

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.02.034
PMID
32112977
PMCID
PMC7105032

Data Quality

Data completeness: 86%