The coronavirus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, and is thought to have leapt to humans at a seafood and wild-animal market, where many of the first people to become infected worked. Pangolins were not listed on an inventory of items sold at the market — although the illegality of trading pangolins could explain this omission.
A microscope image of a cell infected with the novel coronavirus, grown in culture at the University of Hong Kong. Multiple virus particles are being released from the cell surface.Credit: John Nicholls, Leo Poon and Malik Peiris/The University of Hong Kong
Scientists are increasingly concerned about a new virus that has infected tens of thousands of people and killed hundreds. The virus is a coronavirus, and belongs to the same family as the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. It causes a respiratory illness, can spread from person to person,
