COVID-19, short for coronavirus disease 2019, is an infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 is a newly identified pathogen that has not previously been seen in humans and is highly contagious. Though it belongs to the same category of viruses as SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is a different strain with its own characteristics.
COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and the outbreak has spread quickly across the world, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare COVID-19 a pandemic.
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