The first cases of a novel coronavirus appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in the last days of 2019.

Then there were more cases. And then more — around 2,900 as of the morning of Jan. 27, 2020 — mostly in China, but also around the world, including two Canadian cases.

The virus is thought to have originally been transmitted from an animal to a human, according to the World Health Organization, though health officials haven’t yet been able to identify which kind of animal started the outbreak.

Since then, WHO officials have confirmed that the virus can be transmitted between people — meaning you can get it from another person, not just from animals.

The virus, currently known as 2019-nCoV, is a coronavirus, part of a family of viruses. Some coronaviruses cause the common cold, and others are responsible for SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), for example.

At the moment, experts think that the new coronavirus is likely spread like most other such viruses, said Dr. Susy Hota, an infectious diseases physician and medical director of infection prevention and control at the University Health Network in Toronto.

“Every indication that we have so far is that it’s transmitted like many other coronaviruses and other respiratory viruses through what we call droplet transmission,” she said.

“That’s generally larger respiratory secretion droplets, so things that are generated when you cough or sneeze and you’re infected with the virus.”

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