Q&A on the Wuhan Coronavirus
An outbreak of viral pneumonia that began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019 has now sickened thousands, and led to more than 100 deaths.
Although much is still unknown, scientists have made rapid progress in understanding the culprit, a new virus in the coronavirus family, which temporarily goes by the name 2019 novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV.
As the virus has spread, however, misinformation has, too. We’ve written about several bogus claims about the new coronavirus, and will continue to debunk stories as they surface.
Here, we answer some key questions about what is known so far about the outbreak and the virus.
When did the outbreak begin, and what is the cause?
Scientists are still working to determine when the virus first emerged in people, but the earliest known instances of the disease occurred in early December in Wuhan, a city of 11 million in central China.
After a string of mysterious pneumonia cases, many of them linked to a seafood market selling wild game and live animals, officials reported the outbreak to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31.
By Jan. 7, Chinese authorities had isolated 2019-nCoV as the cause of the disease, and shared the genome a few days later. This allowed other countries to test for the virus, and for scientists to begin devising treatments and investigating how the outbreak began.
Coronaviruses are a diverse family of large RNA viruses that have characteristic spikes on their surface, making them look like they have a halo, or corona, when viewed under a microscope.
Most coronaviruses that infect humans are relatively benign and cause mild respiratory
