On 31 December 2019, the local authorities of Wuhan, Hubei province, China, reported a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin. On 9 January 2020, the China Centre for Disease Control reported a novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) to be the causative agent.
As of 30 January 2020, 7824 laboratory-confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV have been reported including 170 deaths[1]. The disease has already spread to 19 countries outside China, with new cases continuing to emerge daily.
Recalling the SARS-CoV epidemic in 2003 with over 8000 cases reported (10% case fatality), it is crucial to rapidly gain a better understanding of the newly identified virus, especially in relation to potential clinical and public health measures that can be put to immediate use to improve patients’ health and/or contain the spread of 2019-nCoV.
