COVID-19 pandemic Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! PreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text=== Cause === {{Main|Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2}} [[File:Coronavirus virion structure.svg|thumb|right|Illustration of SARS-CoV-2 [[virion]]]] SARS‑CoV‑2 belongs to the broad family of viruses known as [[coronavirus]]es.<ref name="Fox2020">{{#invoke:cite journal ||vauthors=Fox D |title=What you need to know about the novel coronavirus |journal=Nature |date=January 2020 |pmid=33483684 |doi=10.1038/d41586-020-00209-y|s2cid=213064026 }}</ref> It is a [[Positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus|positive-sense single-stranded RNA]] (+ssRNA) virus, with a single linear RNA segment. Coronaviruses infect humans, other mammals, including livestock and companion animals, and avian species.<ref name="V'kovskik:21">{{#invoke:cite journal ||vauthors=V'kovski P, Kratzel A, Steiner S, Stalder H, Thiel V |title=Coronavirus biology and replication: implications for SARS-CoV-2 |journal=Nature Reviews. Microbiology |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=155–170 |date=March 2021 |pmid=33116300 |pmc=7592455 |doi=10.1038/s41579-020-00468-6}}</ref> Human coronaviruses are capable of causing illnesses ranging from the [[common cold]] to more severe diseases such as [[Middle East respiratory syndrome]] (MERS, fatality rate ≈34%). SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh known coronavirus to infect people, after [[Human coronavirus 229E|229E]], [[Human coronavirus NL63|NL63]], [[Human coronavirus OC43|OC43]], [[Human coronavirus HKU1|HKU1]], [[Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus|MERS-CoV]], and the original [[Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus|SARS-CoV]].<ref name="NEJM-Novel">{{#invoke:cite journal ||vauthors=Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, Li X, Yang B, Song J, Zhao X, Huang B, Shi W, Lu R, Niu P, Zhan F, Ma X, Wang D, Xu W, Wu G, Gao GF, Tan W |title=A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019 |journal=The New England Journal of Medicine |volume=382 |issue=8 |pages=727–733 |date=February 2020 |pmid=31978945 |pmc=7092803 |doi=10.1056/NEJMoa2001017}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page