Research progress on SARS-CoV-2

ABSTRACT

Since December 2019. the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China, has spread rapidly to other provinces and cities in China, and worldwide. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV-2 belongs to the fi-coronavirus family, which is closely related to SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, but quite different, especially in the spike protein. SARS-CoV-2 may he derived from bats according to sequence comparison. SARS-CoV-2 uses the same receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2), as SARS-CoV. The main transmission routes include droplets and close contacts. The lack of effective drugs and vaccine is a challenge for outbreak control.