"On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) received reports of pneumonia cases of unknown etiology in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, China. The agent responsible was subsequently identified as a coronavirus—SARS‐CoV‐2. The WHO declared this disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern at the end of January 2020.
This event evoked a sense of déjà vu, as it has many similarities to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) of 2002‐2003. Both illnesses were caused by a zoonotic novel coronavirus, both originated during winter in China and both spread rapidly all over the world. However, the case‐fatality rate of SARS (9.6%) is higher than that of COVID‐19 (<4%). Another zoonotic novel coronavirus, MERS‐CoV, was responsible for the Middle East respiratory syndrome, which had a case‐fatality rate of 34%. ..."

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