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False-coloured scanning electron micrograph of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; gold) emerging from cells in culture. SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus first identified in China in January 2020 as the cause of an acute respiratory disease now known as COVID-19. Cases of the disease increased rapidly and spread globally, with the World Health Organization characterising COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020.

Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (19 February 2020)