• Question: Can you explain what the coronavirus is?

    Asked by anon-239181 to James, Claire, Chris, binuraj, Alice on 10 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Binuraj Menon

      Binuraj Menon answered on 10 Mar 2020:

      Hi Bex,

      Coronaviruses are a family of hundreds of viruses (first discovered in 1960) that can cause fever, respiratory problems, and sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms . The COVID-19 is one of seven members of this family known to infect humans, they are originated in animals and transmitted to humans. The name corona came from its peculiar crown like shape (in latin corona means crown) due to the surface covering with club-shaped protein spikes. These spiky proteins also contribute to the severity of the infection which are better at latching onto human cells. Some coronaviruses produce proteins that can fend off the immune system.Human to human transmission of coronaviruses is primarily thought to occur among close contacts via respiratory droplets generated by sneezing and coughing (this is why personal hygiene is important to stop the spreading).

      I found the following video quite interesting, please watch it to gain more information about virus in general and how coronavirus is different to its other family members.

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