Explained | NeoCoV — what it is and what it is not
The Hindu
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to infect animals and humans.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to infect animals and humans. They are largely categorised into four genera — alpha, beta, gamma and delta. Broadly speaking, alpha and beta coronaviruses commonly infect mammals such as bats and humans, while Gamma and Delta mainly infect birds. While animals, including bats, are generally considered as the reservoirs of coronaviruses, rarely spillover events could occur. It is possible for viruses that infect animals to jump to humans, a process which is known as zoonotic spillover. Many major infectious diseases, including COVID-19, is widely thought to be a result of spillover.
A number of human coronaviruses have been identified previously, including OC43, HKU1, 229E, and NL63 which cause mild and seasonal infections in humans and SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV which cause severe disease. SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, belongs to the genus of beta coronavirus and is in fact the 7th type of coronavirus known to infect and cause severe disease in humans.
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