The appalling COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has become a major cause of
mortality in 2020. The COVID-19 is caused by a dreadful coronavirus called nCoV
(SARS-CoV2). The term “coronavirus” (CoV) originates from the Latin term corona,
which means “halo”/ “crown,” as the virus carries the crown-like projections (spikes)
on its surface. Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses causing mild diseases to
severe respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases. This review describes the overview of
COVID-19, including the origin and reservoir of SARS-CoV2 and the genomic
sequence of SARS-CoV2 compared to other coronaviruses. Furthermore, major events
of the COVID-19 outbreak, reported confirmed cases, death cases, and case fatality rate
(CFR) of covid-19 since its beginning until now, and different facts about fatally
potential beta coronaviruses are also discussed in detail in this review
Keywords: Beta coronaviruses, COVID-19, hACE2, nCoV, SARS, SARS-CoV2, SARS-CoV2 genome, Types of CoV.
