Human coronaviruses have classically caused mild respiratory infections. Two previous outbreaks caused by newly identified coronaviruses, SARS‐CoV in 2002 and MERS‐CoV in 2012, caused serious respiratory disease with increased mortality. The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic is caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2).The infection originated late 2019 in China, and in a few months disseminated to reach almost 200 countries, now affecting over 500,000 people with an overall estimated mortality of 4% (World Health Organization; March 27, 2020).
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Papa et al. (2020) studied this question.
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