2019 Novel Coronavirus: A mysterious threat from Wuhan, China–A current review

Abstract

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a huge family of viruses and they cause various diseases from the common cold to very serious illnesses. They also just like the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). But novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a different strain and newly discovered in humans. Several known coronaviruses circulate in animals not yet infected by humans. It is also a zoonotic virus, which means that they are spread between animals and then to humans. Comprehensive studies showed that SARS-CoV was transmitted to humans by civet cats and MERS-CoV by dromedary camels. Respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing are common signs of infection. It was started from Huanan wholesale seafood market with the admission of 2-3 patients and now crossed 37251 cases with 812 deaths as on 9th February. In some of the days, the number of new admissions was more than 3000 cases continuously. This review summarises the types, morphology, origin, transmission, symptoms, diagnostic methods, Chinese, global and Indian scenario of this novel deadly virus. The world health organization advises for the public about the avoiding of the spread of the virus, general recommendations for individuals and for the risk groups also reviewed.