Your Most Pressing Questions About the Coronavirus, Answered
What are the symptoms? How bad will the outbreak become? The latest advice to keep you informed and safe.
Find answers to the latest questions about COVID-19 here.
Follow Elemental’s ongoing coverage of the coronavirus outbreak here.
The coronavirus is a newly discovered strain of a family of viruses that infect animals and sometimes humans. Below are some common questions (and answers) about the rapidly spreading outbreak, now officially called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization (WHO) and previously referred to as the “2019 novel coronavirus” or 2019-nCoV.
Where did this new coronavirus virus come from?
The virus itself, named SARS-CoV-2 originated in bats, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In December 2019, the first cases in humans were detected, in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Early cases are believed to involve people who had been to a large animal and seafood market. Two previous human outbreaks of coronaviruses — severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) — also originated in bats.
