Must Read: What you don't know about Coronavirus

    Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.The clinical name for coronavirus is actually SARS-CoV-2. It stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

The disease causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever, and in more severe cases, difficulty breathing. You can protect yourself by washing your hands frequently, avoid touching your face, and avoid close contact (1 meter or 3 feet) with people who are unwell. Older people, and those with medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

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Covid-19 is closely related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) which ravaged 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 down in health, so it was easier to control.

Scientists have been trying to understand the origin source of COVID-19 and the virus that causes it: SARS-CoV-2.

Originally, scientists believed the virus may have developed in bats, and later pangolins.

However, genomic comparisons suggest that the SARS-Cov-2 virus is the result of a recombination between two different viruses, meaning the exact origin of the virus is still unclear.

In December 2019, 27 of the first 41 people hospitalised (66%) passed through a market located in the heart of Wuhan city in Hubei province. But, according to a research conducted at Wuhan Hospital, the very first human case identified did not frequent this market. Instead, a molecular dating estimate based on the SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences indicates an origin in November. 

Comparative genomic analyses have shown that SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the group of Betacoronaviruses and that it is very close to SARS-CoV, responsible for an epidemic of acute pneumonia which appeared in November 2002 in the Chinese province of Guangdong and then spread to 29 countries in 2003.  It is known that bats of the genus Rhinolophus (potentially several cave species) were the reservoir of this virus and that a small carnivore, the palm civet (Paguma larvata), may have served as an intermediate host between bats and the first human cases.

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Since then, many Betacoronaviruses have been discovered, mainly in bats, but also in humans. Results indicate that bats, and in particular species of the genus Rhinolophus, constitute the reservoir of the SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.

203 Countries and Territories around the world have reported a total of 932,214 confirmed cases of the coronavirus COVID-19 that originated from Wuhan, China, and a death toll of 46,826 deaths. Countries with high confirmed cases of Coronavirus are:

United states, Italy, Spain, China, 

Germany, Frances, Iran, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Turkey, Belgium, e.t.c

Countries that have no confirmed cases of Coronavirus are: Republic of Palau, Tonga, Solomon Isand, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Fiji, Barbados e.t.c

The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is to be well informed about the COVID-19 virus, it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands regularly for 20 seconds or using an alcohol based rub frequently and not touching your face, stay at home and  isolate yourself from others in the household if you feel ill.

Currently, there are no specific vaccines or cure for COVID-19. However, there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments.