COVID-19: Epidemiology and Public Health Aspects

摘要

OnDecember 31, 2019, the World HealthOrganization (WHO) was informed ofcases of pneumonia of unknown etiology detected inWuhanCity, HubeiProvince ofChina. Anovelcoronavirus (2019-nCoV) was identified as thecausative virus byChineseauthorities on January 7.Availableevidence on the 2019-nCoVvirusand previousexperience with othercoronavirus (MERS-CoVand SARS-CoV)and other respiratoryviruses (e.g.,avian influenza) suggests that there waszoonotictransmission associated with the 2019-nCoV.[1] The outbreak was declared aPublic HealthEmergency ofInternationalConcern on January 30, 2020. The WHO has nowcharacterized the outbreak asa pandemic.[2] AnCoVisa newstrain that has not been previously identified in humans.[3] Acorona oflarge, distinctivespikes in theenvelope makes possibletheidentification ofCoVby electronmicroscopy.[4] On February 11, 2020, the WHO announced an official namefor the nCoVdisease:COVID19.As onMarch 15, 2020, theinitial outbreak inChina had spread to 185 countries. Table 1 givesan overviewofthecurrent globalsituationwithrespect to thetop ten affected countries.