In late December 2019, the first pneumonia cases of unknown origin were identified in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province in central China.
1 The causative pathogen has been identified as a novel enveloped RNA betacoronavirus.
2 Given the phylogenetic similarity to the previously isolated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the new virus has been named SARS-CoV-2.
3