The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is derived from Wuhan city, Hubei province of China, has spread quickly in 72 countries to date. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2, previously 2019-nCoV. At present, the newly identified SARS-CoV2 has caused a large number of deaths with tens of thousands of confirmed cases worldwide, posing a serious threat to public health. However, there are no clinically approved vaccines or specific therapeutic drugs available for COVID-19. Intensive research on the newly emerged COVID-19 is urgently needed to elucidate their pathogenic mechanisms and epidemiological characteristics, and to identify potential drug targets, which will contribute to the development of effective prevention and treatment strategies. Hence, this review will focus on recent progress regarding the structure of SARS-CoV2 and characteristics of COVID-19, such as etiology, pathogenesis and epidemiological characteristics.
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