Covid-19 facts: The treatment and risk of death from the virus

A scientist works in a bio-safety level 2 laboratory at KU Leuven's The Rega Institute for Medical Research in Leuven, Belgium. The institute is currently trying to find a treatment for Covid-19. — Reuters

Covid-19 is the name of the disease arising from the infection of a new (novel) coronavirus designated as SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV or the Wuhan virus.

It is the latest in a line of zoonotic diseases (or zoonoses) that has plagued humans ever since evolution begun. Zoonoses are diseases that are transmissible from a different species to humans.