The coronavirus that affects China has forced the enclosure of millions of citizens, has caused more than 1000 deaths and infected thousands of people and has unleashed a worldwide alert that is wreaking havoc. In many Asian cities, the celebrations of the Chinese New Year have been suspended, the virus has jumped over the borders of Asia and cases have already been detected in the US and others are studied in Spain.

The Ministry of Health, through the Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, has prepared an informative guide with all the data that we should know about the new coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV). These are the answers to the questions that everyone is asking: Coronaviruses are a broad family of viruses that normally affect only animals. Some have the ability to transmit from animals to people.

They produce clinical conditions ranging from the common cold to more serious diseases, such as the coronavirus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) and the coronavirus that causes the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV). It is a new type of coronavirus that can affect people and has been detected for the first time in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, in China. There are still many issues that are unknown in relation to 2019-nCoV.

The source of infection is under investigation. There is a possibility that the initial source may be an animal, since the first cases were detected in people who worked in a market where animals were present. Some coronaviruses are zoonotic viruses, which means they can be transmitted from animals to humans. The most common symptoms include cough, sore throat, fever and feeling short of breath. In more severe cases, the infection can cause pneumonia, significant difficulty breathing, kidney failure, and even death. The most serious cases usually occur in elderly people or who suffer from any other disease such as heart, lung or immunity problems.