COVID-19 (short for coronavirus disease 2019) is caused by
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), more
commonly referred to as coronavirus. Coronavirus has dominated
world headlines in 2020, leading to nationwide quarantines,
international and national travel bans, and stockpiling of
essentials.
COVID-19 is one of seven currently known coronaviruses that have
the ability to infect people, and the current outbreak represents
the third major global outbreak of a coronavirus in the past 20
years.
There has been an exponential growth in the reported number of
COVID-19 cases in almost every country that has been affected by
the virus. If the exponential nature of the infection rate of
coronavirus is not stemmed then healthcare systems across the world
will be overwhelmed, as we have seen happen in Italy. Early
development of a vaccine is therefore imperative.
