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A coronavirus disease (COVID), coronavirus respiratory syndrome, coronavirus pneumonia, coronavirus flu, or any other variant, is a disease caused by members of the coronavirus (CoV) family.

Coronaviruses cause different coronavirus diseases including Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and can also cause the common cold.

The 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11 March 2020. Local transmission of the disease has been recorded in many countries across all six WHO regions. COVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

SARS
In 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), lead to the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak. Over 8,000 people from 29 different countries and territories were infected, and at least 774 died worldwide.

MERS
In 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV), causing Middle East respiratory syndrome, was identified.

MERS-CoV is responsible for the 2012 MERS outbreak, primarily in the Middle East, the 2015 MERS outbreak in South Korea and the 2018 MERS outbreak primarily in Saudi Arabia.

COVID-19
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which in December 2019 lead to a pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China resulted in the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.

Coronaviruses
Coronaviruses are viruses which cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans the viruses cause respiratory tract infections which can range from mild to lethal.

Six species of human coronaviruses are known, of which four are among the viruses which cause the common cold or common respiratory illnesses: HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43, and HCoV-HKU1. Two additional species cause more severe symptoms and may be lethal: MERS-CoV and two different strains of SARS: SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2.