Unifor COVID-19 Information & Resources

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Fact Sheet

On December 31, 2019, Chinese health authorities identified a new (or novel) coronavirus (referred to as 2019-nCoV) through a series of reported cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China. On February 11, 2020 the World Health Organization announced an official name for the disease. The new name of this disease is coronavirus disease 2019, abbreviated as COVID-19. In COVID-19, ‘CO’ stands for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease.

Globally, more than 80,000 people in nearly 50 countries have been infected. Nearly 2,800 have died, the majority in China’s Hubei province.

Coronaviruses
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. They can cause diseases ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV)

How COVID-19 Spreads
Current understanding about how the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads is largely based on what is known about similar coronaviruses. The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person; more specifically:

• Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet)
• Via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes; these droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

Download the full Unifor fact sheet here.