On 27 March 2020, nine cases of the Covid-19, novel coronavirus, were confirmed for The Bahamas. One recorded hospitalisation and progressive recovery. This person, according to news reports, was sent home for personal isolation. The other eight persons infected with the novel coronavirus, were said to be in home quarantined. No fatalities are recorded for The Bahamas as of 27 March, 2020.

The reason it is called novel coronavirus (nCoV) is because it represents a recently discovered coronavirus of medical significance, but has not been permanently named as yet.

There have been other novel coronaviruses.

Since the outbreak of this novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China in December 2019, moving forward to date, 27 March 2020, some 529,057 people worldwide were infected and 23,963 have died. The numbers, expert epidemiologists say are expected to increase worldwide before the infection rate flattens out.

The coronavirus seemingly appeared out of nowhere in 1970.

It’s story starts from there.

Simple Coronavirus, over the ensuing thirty years, moved on to deadly novel versions like MERS AND SARS and now COVID-19.

COVID-19 novel coronavirus

For humans, it was first associated with the common cold, causing upper respiratory tract infections. These infections can be mild to fatal depending on any number of factors.

For animals like cows and dogs and bird, it is lethal.

For other species, like bats, it is harmless.

Cross-species transmission have seemingly produced extremely virulent and deadly strains of the coronavirus. Each new strain is described as novel until permanently named.

1970 – THE NEW CORONAL COLD CAUSED BY THE NEWLY DISCOVERED CORONAVIRUS

(The Akron Beacon Journal, Monday July 6, 1970)

1972 – NEW GROUP OF COLD VIRUSES ISOLATED CALLED HUMAN CORONAVIRUS

(The San Francisco Examiner, Sunday, 08 October 1972)

1973 – CORONAVIRUS IDENTIFIED IN COWS CAUSING A HIGH DEATH RATE IN YOUNG CALVES. TREATMENT IDENTIFIED

(The Columbus Telegram, Saturday, 03 February 1973)

1975 – RECENTLY DISCOVERED CORONAVIRUS FOUND TO PRODUCE PROFUSE NASAL DISCHARGE BUT CONSIDERED NOTHING MORE THAN ANOTHER CAUSE OF THE COMMON COLD

(Independent, California, Friday, 21 March 1975)

1978 – 32 DIFFERENT STRAINS OF CORONAVIRUS IDENTIFIED

(The Courier, Wednesday, 01 November 1978)

1978 – CORONAVIRUS ISOLATED FROM BRAINS OF TWO DECEASED MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS

(Tyler Morning Telegraph, Friday, 08 September 1978)

1979 – RESEARCH INTO THE COMMON COLD DECLINES AS 200 DIFFERENT VIRUSES ARE IDENTIFIED AS CAUSERS

(The Index Journal, Monday 19 February 1979)

1979 – CORONAVIRUS IN DOGS – TREATMENT AVAILABLE

(Muncie Evening Press, Thursday April 19, 1979)

WHEN WAS THE FIRST CASE OF DOG CORONAVIRUS OBSERVED?

1971 IN GERMANY CORONAVIRUS WAS OBSERVED IN GERMAN SHEPHERD MILITARY DOGS

(The Messenger, Saturday November 23, 1985)

1985 – ARTICLE CONTENDS CORONAVIRUS IN DOGS FIRST APPEARED ON GERMAN NATO BASE IN THE 1970s

(The Danville News, Wednesday 24 July 1985)

1991 – RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT INCREASED STRESS RAISED THE CHANCE OF CATCHING COLD VIRUSES INCLUDING CORONAVIRUS

(The Bismarck Tribune, August 29, 1991)

1997 – Human Coronavirus Still A Common Cold Virus like Rhinovirus

(The Observer London, Sunday 12 October 1997)

1998 – NEW RESEARCH SAYS ALTHOUGH RHINOVIRUS WAS BEING BLAMED FOR COLDS ONLY HALF WERE CAUSED BY THEM. CORONAVIRUS, INFLUENZA A AND RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS WERE OTHER CAUSES

(The Charlotte Observer, Tuesday 24 February 1998)

2001 – RESPIRATORY BOVINE CORONAVIRUS. VIRUS NOT PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT TO CAUSE RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS AND PNEUMONIA IN ANIMALS NOW FOUND TO BE CAUSE OF IT

MARCH 2003 – MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS LINKED TO NEW VERSION OF CORONAVIRUS ‘SARS’ SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME

(The Manhattan Mercury, Tuesday 25 March 2003)

2003 – RESEARCHERS FIND LINK THAT ‘SARS’ VIRUS THAT IS IN THE CORONAVIRUS FAMILY IS CLOSE ENOUGH TO SUGGEST THAT DISEASE JUMPED FROM ANIMALS TO HUMANS

(Indiana Gazette, Thursday, 04 September 2003)

2013 – AUGUST 25, 2013 – BATS LINKED TO ‘MERS’ CORONAVIRUS

2013 – AUGUST 31, 2013 MERS (MIDDLE EAST RESPIRATORY SYNDROME) CORONAVIRUS. DEATH OF 43 YEAR OLD MAN IN SAUDI ARABIA BRINGS DEATH TOLL FROM MERS CORONAVIRUS TO 50 PEOPLE

(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Saturday 31 August 2013)

2019 – NOVEL CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 APPEARS IN WUHAN, CHINA

2020 February – WORLD ECONOMIES SHUTDOWN IN A BID TO STEM THE INCIDENCE OF FURTHER VIRUS TRANSMISSION

THE SCRAMBLE FOR A VACCINE BEGINS FOR SARS – CoV2 also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19

(The Montana Standard, Wednesday, February 19, 2020)