Abstract The paper presents data on the coronavirus disease COVID-2019 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which was temporarily named 2019-nCoV (2019 novel coronavirus) until 11 February 2020. An outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan (Hubei province of China) which was first described in an official publication of the Chinese Office of the World Health Organization on December 31, 2019, attracted attention of both dedicated experts and the entire international community. On January 30, 2020 it was recognised as a public health emergency of international concern. The first cases were reported on December 12, 2019 in China. It had not been detected before, and was first identified by Chinese researchers on January 7, 2020 under the temporary name 2019-nCoV.
Keywords coronavirus; coronavirus infection; COVID-2019; SARS-CoV-2; 2019-nCoV; pneumonia; treatment; safety.