There are growing fears of the new viral pneumonia breakout spreading more widely in Europe. The novel “Covid-19” pathogen, which was first isolated from a cluster of patients in China some weeks ago, belongs to the coronavirus strain, a large family of viruses that can cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as SARS or MERS. This new strain has raised alarm as it has not been previously identified in humans.
Therefore, no vaccine or specific treatment for this infection is available. Although the initial source of infection is still unknow and its pathogenicity is uncertain, the World Health Organization warns Covid-19 can be asymptomatically transmitted from person to person. As with SARS, transmission is presumed to take place via respiratory secretions. The incubation period is estimated at a range 2 to 10 days. The World Health organization gave some important guidelines to reduce the transmission of the infection and to manage its spreading.
