Novel coronavirus pneumonia is an acute infectious pneumonia whose etiologic agent is the 2019 novel coronavirus, and in this case, the coronavirus isolated from the lower respiratory tract of a patient with unexplained pneumonia in Wuhan was this mutated novel coronavirus. According to previous knowledge, there are six types of coronaviruses capable of infecting humans, namely, 229E and NL63 in the genus α, OC43 and HKU1 in the genus β, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-associated Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-associated Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), while the novel coronavirus belongs to the seventh type. Novel coronaviruses can now be categorized in the genus β coronavirus, which is close to, but not identical to, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV in terms of the evolutionary tree. Why this virus is endemic An epidemic of novel coronavirus pneumonia can be caused by antigenic mutation of coronaviruses to produce a novel coronavirus, and the population lacks immunity to the mutated strain of the virus. What are the characteristics of the disease? 1. The disease is generally susceptible to the population, especially the elderly and people with underlying diseases, who are more seriously infected; 2. The incubation period of the new coronavirus pneumonia is about 7 days on average, with a shorter incubation period of about 1 day and a longer incubation period of 14 days at the longest; 3. Initial symptoms of patients with the new coronavirus pneumonia are fever, malaise, and a dry cough, which are followed by severe manifestations such as respiratory distress; 4. Prognosis of the new coronavirus pneumonia is favorable for most patients, but some severe patients may die; 5. Most patients have a good prognosis, but some serious patients may die. 5. At present, there is no specific treatment for this disease, and clinical isolation and symptomatic treatment are the mainstays. References [1] Hubei Technical Publishing House, “New Coronavirus Pneumonia Prevention Manual” [2] Life Times, “Epidemic Questions and Answers”.