In the last days of 2019, local hospitals in Wuhan city (population of 11 million) reported several pneumonia cases with unknown etiology among people linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. The virus, which is thought to be the source of the unknown viral infection, was first identified as a new type of coronavirus on January 7, 2020. With the first case reported in Thailand about a week later, the virus’s spread outside the borders of China became apparent. In an alarmingly short time, the new type of coronavirus disease (called COVID-19) started to gain worldwide recognition with the detection of various COVID-19 cases in multiple countries, including Japan, South Korea, USA, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and England. As a result of its rampant spread and fatal clinical manifestations, the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization (WHO). Turkey announced its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on the same date that WHO characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. As of April 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has traveled to 209 countries and territories around the world, infecting more than 3 million people. Since specific treatment and vaccine for COVID-19 are not yet available, early case detection and preventive healthcare practices (isolation, social distancing, and personal hygiene) play a critical role in combating the COVID-19 outbreak. This review is intended to build an overall picture of the COVID-19 outbreak based on the available scientific knowledge.
Cite this article as: Öksel C, Bilgi E, Başlar MS, Çeşmeli S, Tomak A, Hanoğlu BD. Novel Coronavirus Disease: Overview and Recent Situation. Arc Health Sci Res 2020; 7(2): 213-24.