What is the 2019 Novel Coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that can cause illness in humans. The current outbreak is caused by a new (or “novel”) strain of coronavirus, similar to the viruses that caused the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak from 2001 to 2003 and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreaks from 2012 to the present time.