COVID-19
At the end of 2019 in the month of December, Wuhan, China became the epicenter of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology that did not yield to currently used treatments. In a few days, infections increased exponentially, not only in Mainland China but also in different countries. The causative agent was identified, a new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) later classified as SARS-CoV2 causing the COVID-19 disease. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declares this disease a pandemic.
In December 2019, Hubei province in Wuhan, China, became the epicenter of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown causes.1 A group of patients presented to different hospitals with diagnoses of pneumonia of unknown etiology. Most of these patients were epidemiologically linked to a wholesale market for live and unprocessed fish, shellfish and animals in Hubei province.
During December 18 and December 29, 2019, the first five cases were reported, of which four of these patients were hospitalized for presenting acute respiratory distress syndrome and one of these patients died.6,7 Most of the patients patients claimed to have a direct or indirect relationship with a food market in the province of Hubei in Wuhan.2,3 By January 1 of this year, the Wuhan market had been closed and there was no clear evidence of person-to-person transmission .8 As of January 2, a total of 41 patients had been hospitalized and only one patient with serious pre-existing conditions had died. On January 7, Chinese authorities announced that they had identified a new type of coronavirus (New Coronavirus, 2019-nCoV). Simultaneously, other possible pathogens were ruled out, including the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), the influenza virus, the avian influenza virus and the adenovirus. 8,9 From this moment, the authorities worldwide knew that they faced a new threat.
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