Why The Novel Coronavirus Has The Power To Launch A Pandemic

On January 30, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus — then unnamed — to be a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern." The virus, first reported in China in late 2019, had started to spread beyond its borders, causing 98 cases in 18 countries in addition to some 7,700 cases in China at the time.

Six months later, the tiny coronavirus has spread around the world, infecting more than 16 million people worldwide and killing more than 650,000. It is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. in 2020.

"This is the sixth time a global health emergency has been declared under the International Health Regulations, but it is easily the most severe," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's director-general, on Monday.

What was it about this coronavirus — later named SARS-CoV-2 — that made it the one to spark a global pandemic?