COVID-19 - Outbreak And Its Implications On 'The Red Dragon'

A cluster of pneumonia cases were reported in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province on December 2019. The unknown pneumonia-causing agent was named as Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which lead to infections and death of thousands of people from China and had spread to other countries. Wuhan, a city of 11 million people has been put into quarantine on January 7, 2020. With the increase in number of cases in other countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern”. The deadly outbreak has posed a serious threat to life which is a plain warning sign of what an epidemic can cause. Mumeninaz Zaman writes

- Mumeninaz Zaman

About the virus

Coronaviruses are named for the crown-like spikes on their surface. There are four main sub-groupings of coronaviruses, known as alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. Human coronaviruses were first identified in the mid1960s. The seven coronaviruses that can infect people are: 229E (alpha coronavirus), NL63 (alpha coronavirus), OC43 (beta coronavirus) and HKU1 (beta coronavirus) these are common human coronaviruses. Sometimes coronaviruses that infect animals can evolve and make people sick and become a new human coronavirus. Three recent examples of this are SARS-CoV (beta coronavirus), MERS-CoV (beta coronavirus) and now the COVID-19.

The new strain of virus which has been identified was previously not found in humans. The confirmation of the human-to-human transmission of the virus has further worsened the situation. According to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats, bats, etc. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people such as with MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome).