In 2019, a new coronavirus was identified as the cause of a disease outbreak that originated in China. The virus is now known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease it causes is called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
This new coronavirus is similar to SARS-CoV, so it was named SARS-CoV-2 The disease caused by the virus was named COVID-19 (COronVIrusDisease-2019) to show that it was discovered in 2019.
The novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, is a potentially deadly virus that can lead to COVID-19.
SARS-CoV-2 stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. It is a virus that causes respiratory illness in humans.
Coronaviruses didn't just pop up recently. They're a large family of viruses that have been around for a long time. Many of them can cause a variety of illnesses, from a mild cough to severe respiratory illnesses. The new (or “novel”) coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is one of several known to infect humans.
In general, respiratory viruses are not known to be transmitted by blood transfusion, and there have been no reported cases of transfusion-transmitted coronavirus.
ICTV announced “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” as the name of the new virus on 11 February 2020. This name was chosen because the virus is genetically related to the coronavirus responsible for the SARS outbreak of 2003. While related, the two viruses are different.
SARS-CoV originated in bats and was transmitted to humans via civet cats [3] while MERS originated in camels [4]. While it is currently unknown the precise route by which SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted from animals to humans, it is argued to have a bat origin [1,5].
Although there is currently no evidence that the COVID-19 virus transmits through semen or vaginal fluids, it has been detected in the semen of people recovering from COVID-19. We would thus recommend avoiding any close contact, especially very intimate contact like unprotected sex, with someone with active COVID-19 to minimize the risk of transmission
March 11, 2022 -- A new COVID-19 variant -- unofficially dubbed “Deltacron” because it's a combination of the Delta and Omicron variants -- has been detected in a small number of cases in France, the Netherlands, and Denmark, the World Health Organization says.
A lineage is a genetically closely related group of virus variants derived from a common ancestor. A variant has one or more mutations that differentiate it from other variants of the SARS-CoV-2 viruses. A recombinant is a variant created by the combination of genetic material from two different variants.
The most likely ecological reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2 are bats, but it is believed that the virus jumped the species barrier to humans from another intermediate animal host. This intermediate animal host could be a domestic food animal, a wild animal, or a domesticated wild animal which has not yet been identified.