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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XI - 2019

Coronaviruses (crown-shaped viruses; Figure 1) are a large family of viruses
which cause illness in animals, including camels, cattle, cats, bats, and humans.
Several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory diseases ranging from the

common cold to severe, potentially fatal diseases, such as the Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS),
and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Regarding pathogenesis, alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses
infect mammals, gammacoronaviruses and deltacoronaviruses infect birds and
fish, but some of them can infect mammals too.

COVID-19
Respiratory diseases caused by a new coronavirus were first detected in

December 2019 in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. The causative virus was
identified as a betacoronavirus similar to MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, named
SARS-CoV-2. All three viruses (MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2) have
their origins in bats. The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 is named Coronavirus
Disease 2019, for short “COVID-19”.

The initial outbreak of COVID-19 produced symptoms of illnesses ranging
from the common cold to fatal pneumonia; the outbreak occurred in Wuhan, where
many patients were linked to having been at a seafood and live animal market,
suggesting an animal-to-person spread, and suggestive of emergence of the virus
from an animal reservoir. Subsequently, there was evidence of person-to-person
spread as well.

The situation at the time of this writing is still in flux. Community spread
has been detected in at least 49 countries and territories besides China, moving
closer toward the pandemic spread of the new virus. Last updated: February 27,
2020, 07:55 GMT view by country: Coronavirus cases 82,220; Deaths 2,807;
Recovered 32.914. (From: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/Accessed
27/2/2563)

The followings are countries and territories with confirmed COVID-19
cases.
• China • Egypt
• Hong Kong • Finland

104 Short Communication : About Coronaviruses

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