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Novel virus COVID19 was discovered in 2019. The scientific community classified a new virus last year as being one of now seven known coronaviruses, according to WHO ( World Health Organization).
The COVID19 causing virus appeared in China in late November — December 2019. The genome of COVID19 was immediately sequenced and made publicly available to researchers.
Seven known today coronaviruses can potentially infect humans, including the novel coronavirus identified in 2019. Yes, the rest of the world had 2–3 months to prepare. Among them are also SARS and MERS. Based on the genome of the novel 2019 virus, it was hypothesized that the origin of this novel virus is most probably a natural selection in animals before the virus jumped from an animal to a human host. One of the theories illustrated by research is a virus first appeared in bats and then jumped to another animal species at the Wuhan market in China.
