The latest coronavirus that has surfaced has been labelled COVID-19. At this point the virus is deemed to be a new strain of coronavirus.
It is currently understood that COVID-19 started in the wildlife section of the South China Seafood market in the Jiang’an district in Wuhan. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province with approximately 10 million inhabitants.
There is no way of knowing how long it will last as it is yet to be determined how many people may have been infected in the Wuhan district whilst the virus was not known. Many of the residents of Wuhan have undertaken normal travel between the start of the virus and before the Wuhan province was cordoned off by the Chinese government. In the past when both SARS (2002) and MERS (2012) where identified the escalation period of the virus lasted between 6 to 9 months. As soon as COVID-19 was detected and determined to be a new strain of coronavirus the Chinese government has taken unprecedented measures to contain any further exposure. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also been decisive in raising the alert levels quickly so that all countries act accordingly. These measures will go a long way to limiting the outbreak.
Coronaviruses are spread typically through close contact transmission with an infected person. Typical examples of transmission of the virus occur when a person is exposed to fluids, sneezing, coughing or contact surfaces.