Lou Diamond T. Morados Grade-12-St.

Catherine
Teacher: Mrs. Susan Aquino Scaffold 1
Literature Review

Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is a contagious disease originate by the SARS-CoV-2

virus. The ongoing outbreak of the novel coronavirus begins in Hubei Province of the People’s
Republic of China, it has been spread to other countries in a matter of months. Currently, the
COVID-19 virus already infected the entire world and World Health Organization (WHO)
officially declared this virus as pandemic. Individuals who are contaminated of the virus will
acquire a range of less to serious symptoms.

The SARS-CoV-2 is a β-coronavirus, which is enveloped non-segmented positive-sense

RNA virus (Guo et al., 2020). Coronaviruses (CoV) are divided into four genera, including
α−/β−/γ−/δ-CoV. α- and β-CoV are able to infect mammals, while γ- and δ-CoV tend to infect
birds (Guo et al., 2020). Previously, six CoVs have been identified as human-susceptible virus,
among which α-CoVs HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63, and β-CoVs HCoV-HKU1 and HCoV-
OC43 with low pathogenicity, cause mild respiratory symptoms similar to a common cold,
respectively (Guo et al., 2020). It was found that the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is 96.2%
identical to a bat CoV RaTG13, whereas it shares 79.5% identity to SARS-CoV. Based on virus
genome sequencing results and evolutionary analysis, bat has been suspected as natural host of
virus origin, and SARS-CoV-2 might be transmitted from bats via unknown intermediate hosts to
infect humans (Guo et al., 2020). Bats are the reservoir of a wide variety of coronaviruses,
including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) -like viruses. SARS-
CoV-2 may originate from bats or unknown intermediate hosts and cross the species barrier into
humans (Guo et al., 2020).

In conclusion, SARS-CoV-2 origin is yet to be identified however, there is a high

tendency that bats are the host. Furthermore, the virus might be a source of unknown species and
cross the species barrier to infect humans. The novel coronavirus or COVID-19 distorts the
society and daily life of every human being.

Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40779-020-00240-0
Lou Diamond T. Morados Grade-12-St.Catherine
Teacher: Mrs. Susan Aquino Scaffold 1